I almost didn't participate this week in BiteSize Memoir, but decided just to throw this out there even amidst not wanting to throw it out there. Usually when I do this I find great rewards, even at solely the personal level.
Our prompt from the Bitesize Memoir Challenge from Lisa Reiter this week:
Jinks: Childish, playful, often noisy and rowdy activities, usually involving mischievous pranks.
Japes: Tricks or practical jokes or even perhaps, gags or shenanigans.
Preface: I am the wet-towel of pranks and practical jokes. I literally abhor them. April 1 is a day I frown upon and I often tell my friends to be careful with pranking their children. This prank was done not with any malice intended at all, I was just a very tender child who hid much of that tenderness behind a smile. I still do, actually. With that said, here are almost 150 words on the topic. Happy Memoir Writing!
There is something very comforting in the way a sheet drawn tight around my feet and pulled up to my chin feels. It is a non-language feeling of deep love, perhaps reminiscent of the swaddling of babyhood.
My child-world was briefly set on its end long ago when an April Fool’s Prank turned into a moment of quiet terror.
It sounds absurd now. I remember smiling as tears burned. I looked to my sister and my mother who were smiling wider than normal, holding back laughter. Why were they laughing when a basic comfort like putting my feet into my bed was suddenly impossible? This was one of the few places I could trust. It was a spot I knew the best: the comfort and safety stretching out my feet.
The panic I felt was the genesis for my anti-prank stance. No harm was meant. I was just a weird kid.
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Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Spring, 2014 and beyond.
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