I found this neat poem online - I filled in the blanks to personalize it.
Where I'm From I am from computer chips, data punch cards, and from Apples that aren't fruit, and Dells that aren't glades.
I am from the house of cats, of sewing scraps, golf balls filling drawers, and computers galore. From shotguns and rifles, to bows and arrows, to golf clubs, speed boats, and water skis.
I am from the maple, oak, and walnut trees, many now cut down. From woods with my tree house that my Dad built from scratch. From the chapel in the church woods by the little creek with the crawdads, behind my house, where I spent many a pensive moment under the fountains of light shining down from Heaven.
I am from shooting ranges and water skiing and stoic German men who are afraid to give hugs, from Mae and Eddie and Bill & Helen.
I am from the family who lives for Star Trek, and Star Wars, and Sliders, and all that is sci-fi and I am from the family that's been scratched so many times we must be part cat, and yet can't live without them. I am from the family of softball - NO! not baseball, perish the thought. Of bats and balls and pitching lessons and umpiring.
I'm from a mom who always said "if you don't laugh, you'll cry" and "don't talk about undecided things lest you'll jinx them".
I am from the United Methodist, church choirs, and youth groups which I attended without my parents. I was strengthened by walking to church half a mile down the road, on my own, eager to worship my savior and God.
I'm from Cincinnati and a long ancestry come over from Germany in the 1850s and 1860s, from Grandma's macaroni & cheese that my cousin Denny and I adored to Cincinnati goetta and Dad's potato pancakes.
I went from a family with one child to a family with five. I am from a family that gathered at Grandpa's picnic grove for big family parties and who never missed Uncle Bill's Rainbow Division Reunion every summer, with Bingo and see saws and a sea of fossils in the drive. I am from a family that ice-skated behind Grandpa and Grandma's house when the picnic grove was closed for the winter.
I am from a family that picked cherries from Grandma's cherry tree and then baked the best fresh-made cherry pies in the world, and from a family that played penny poker every Thanksgiving and then played Canasta and Sambo with my card-shark Grandma. I am from a family where my mother made our afghans, upholstered our furniture, and made much of my clothing but never once, did she make a lasagna.
* I found this exercise at Midsummer Meanderings: http://midsummermeanderings.blogspot.com
Here's the template for you to try it, if you like. If you do, I'd love to see what you come up with.
I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.I am from the _______ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).
I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail)
I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).
I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).
From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).
I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.
I'm from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing your family).
From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______ (another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).
I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines indicating their worth).
Have fun and make some memories.
Posts
