I’m at my parents’ apartment in sunny Florida, helping out with another cataract procedure for my mother. I wrote about the first one several months ago, and the miracle of seeing clearly when you didn’t even know how much you were missing. When I arrived after my long drive, I found my mother upstairs looking through a basket of old photos. Like all their containers of photos, this one is a gold mine—a mixed batch from all kinds of time periods and locations. Along with photos of various houses, pets, and extended family, my sisters and I are dressed in a great variety of matching holiday dresses, dress-up dresses, 70’s pantsuits, and swim suits. I found some photos I’ve never seen before, including the one of me, below.
I believe I am wearing an Easter outfit. Was it hard to talk my mother into letting me wear it to school? And lucky me to get to carry that Archie lunchbox. I’m seven years old, finishing up first grade, and about to move houses. I have a big sister and two little sisters, and I love school and reading and ballet. In the pictures on the refrigerator behind me, one of us drew a camping scene, probably from our Father-Daughter camping trips, which were legendary. There’s a chore chart of some kind, which probably didn’t work. And an Easter card one of us drew. I look happy.
What would I like to tell that little girl? What do I know now that she needs to hear?
a writing prompt
Write a letter to your younger self.
If it helps, keep a photo of yourself at a particular age in your mind, or in front of you, as you write.
