The following was the result of a writing exercise for the Elephant Academy course; the prompt we were given was ‘Tell a story about a time in your life when you felt carefree, creative, and totally in the moment. Use the senses and all the W’s (who, what, where, when, why).’ The ten minute window for this resulted in a piece I liked as a starting point but I didn’t really hit the mark on a few of those W’s. Here’s take two:
Two years
ago, I got the chance to hold my daughter’s hand, for the first time in three
years or more. No one had stopped me from holding her hand except me. Madison
was a precocious 6 years old, and was holding my hand like it was the most
natural thing in the world. I felt like the prodigal son.
This day of celebration, for me at least, was at a popular winery in the Yarra
Valley. In one direction, the busy carpark lined with trees and managing the
comings and goings of the day. From the carpark winds a busy path to the commercial
centre of this apparently thriving business. People holding their precious
bottled cargo moving back and forth. We walked out from the restaurant area,
the bubbling chatter of the crowd subsiding behind us. The family sat at a
table, enjoying the chance to unwind.
Madison and
I walked on the grass, just the two of us together for the first time. In front
of us lay fields of vines, in a state of recent harvest, with stems bare and
hanging empty.
In the distance, the hills of the Dandenong ranges in the late afternoon sun.
The shadows played games, jumping from valley to valley.
As we walked, we played spelling games. I was trying to find a word to stump
her. Oh! I spotted something in the distance.
“Plateau. Do you know how to spell plateau?”
yogamatty 