Next the instructor guided us to an exercise in learning new words found by the group during the previous’ week’s reading. Some were known and lost, aged with the dust of time. These were defined on the flip chart and then checked in the dictionary for the correct meaning. Many of the words were new, all interesting, so alive and vital to the writers’ craft.
In the remaining time the members were asked to read a piece they wrote.
One other thing that stood out was the happy atmosphere and the openness that filled the room. The heartfelt healing power of laughter – spontaneous, touching and wonderful. It was good. In this class I can learn and someday to feel at home in your seniors writing world. Thank you.
Malcolm MacIver
I stood back and watched as he backed away from the garage and moved toward the edge of the road. As he pulled away from the driveway he passed through the gateposts onto the highway. And as I watched, I saw my son pass from childhood into adulthood with the mere swing of a car onto a highway. As I watched, I followed the car to the end of the road until it made a turn and then lost sight.
It was one of those times in life that seem to make that special mark . . . like the first step or word, the first day of school and then this time … learning to drive a car, the next step toward independence. Independence, it’s sometimes dreaded, sometimes welcomed. It's kind of a double-edged sword, isn't it? With more independence there is more freedom, more time to be me again and I guess to develop a new me ... hopefully a new and improved one like every other product on the market. Why should I be any different? Hopefully it will be a time to begin again and do things I had dreamed about for some time now.
But in my heart there is a feeling of loss, the loss of a once small boy who called a bar "ba", bread "fa-fa" and me "maeee" instead of mom.
For to open that next door, you must close the one behind and you can never go back but only move ahead, on to life and on to opportunity knowing the tie that binds ... the only tie is that of love.
And so as I watch this special event, this special moment, I know we are moving down that road. And it is good. And our love for one another grows and deepens.