Essay...37º

Last month Katey threw a couple of writing prompts at "We Three" and I latched on to one of them...I think she realized that we were struggling with our memoir writing and wanted to challenge us and keep us interested...This new form is called an "anaphora"...You choose a phrase that will continue throughout the essay, usually at the beginning of most sentences...It has a rhythm to it, tells a complete story in a short time and is fun to play with...Mine is very rough but will share it with you anyway...  Hugs to all...  OWAV:)

                                                              Sunshine

    Sun shines now as it did 75 years ago in upstate New York, June 1937. A baby boy sleeps as his father walks into the bedroom to join his wife. She covers their son with a scratchy wool blanket, brushes his soft cheek with her moist lips, as sunshine fills the room. Pleased looks and a lingering embrace are exchanged as the new mother and father look in awe at their long awaited little boy. The sunshine warms the child growing up on a small farm, his constant companion a dog name Amos. Sun shines as boy starts school, loses front teeth, tooth fairy arrives. Sun shines when the jolly fat man brings oranges and nuts for stockings hanging by the chimney and gaily wrapped packages under a tinsel laden tree. Sun doesn’t shines when boy finds out that Santa and parents are one and the same. 

   Sunshine grows dim and the farm is unable to sustain their life, as the father’s health becomes an issue. Sun is hidden as a move takes them to a larger city, less strenuous work is found, they remain a small unit, 3 of them, content, sun shines, again. A few relatives live near, new friendships are formed. Boy is growing up, zits erupt on that same smooth cheek and whiskers soon follow. Sun shines as school keeps him busy, soon a part time job bagging groceries, supplies school clothes, gasoline, the first package of cigarettes, he briefly plays the trumpet and as coxswain keeps his team on cadence. He graduates from high school and Ranger School, as the sun shines higher in the sky. 

Sunshine hides behind a cloud as mother coughs, gasping for breath when her childhood asthma rears its ugly head and angrily demands that they move to a less humid climate. Sunshine hides behind a black cloud as their possessions are sold or given away and a small cedar chest is packed with the mementoes of the past 20 years. They load only the necessities that will fit in a pickup bed, covered with a homemade camper as the sunshine peeks out from behind the dark cloud. The sun shines on the cross country trip, three of them share in the driving of a 57 ford pickup. Five days and 3500 miles register on the odometer, the sun shines in a welcoming way as they reach McCall, Idaho. The mother no longer struggling to breath. 

Sun shines high in the sky as son starts a summer job awaiting him with the Forest Service and enrolls at the University of Idaho the coming fall. The sun shines as his paychecks afford new wheels in the form of a 2 door, 1953 mercury, shiny and black, polished to a high gloss. The sun shines as parents stand waving, tears streaming down his mother face as their only child climbs in the shiny car, revs the motor, smiles at the rumble it makes and leaves the family nest for college.