A summer thought, and a writing prompt

In summer, it is easy for a delicious laziness to set in if we let it. We look at kids free from school and feel pangs of jealousy. Oh, to have unlimited time, a library card, and a swimming pool nearby. But we look back with nostalgia. Life doesn’t seem that simple anymore; maybe it wasn’t then.

Memories float up of watermelon juice dripping down elbows onto the lawn, Uncle Hall making his famous hushpuppies at the house on the hill, the smell of Solarcaine on a night made sleepless by another sunburn.

This prompt asks you to summon a memory that you may already think of every day, or maybe have not for years, if ever. It comes from my book As Grief Ebbs and Flows: A Guided Journal.

The prompt: The greatest kindness someone has done for me is…

Maybe you’ll finish with a thought about gratitude and how to express it at this late date. I have. If it is too late to round up the person you would like to thank, there is always paying it forward, so that person’s kindness remains powerful in the world.