Letting Go: An Anthology of Attempts
by M.E. Hughes
GENRE: nonfiction, personal transformation
Hoarding Memories
George P. Farrell
When I was a little boy, we lived in a small bungalow on the waterfront, in a quaint little community of bungalows atmospherically alive with wandering alcoholics, flea-scratching dogs and spraying tomcats. My mom grew up there. My dad discovered and fell in love with it, finding it far superior to the Harlem railroad flats of his youth. They married at the time Hitler was perfecting his blitzkrieg. I arrived at the peak of the Führer’s success.
The war in Europe scooped up my father and took him out of our life while he was still just a blur to me. He was gone for two years and returned as a large, semi-stranger from a far-off land whose presence filled the bungalow and wedged uncomfortably between my mom and me.
Spitting distance from our house was a little brown-sand beach. In the summer time, if the tide was high and the day warm, I went swimming with Mom and Dad in the tepid and semi-polluted saltwater. After splashing around in the languid seaweed, baking under the hot sun, we all went back into the little house and showered to rid ourselves of the salt and god knows what else. The house had a cubicle of a bathroom, subway-tiled walls, tiny hex-tiled floor, a toilet, sink and, of course, an enamelled, iron bathtub, which was to play a major role in my young life.
I loved my mom. She was very beautiful. Even as a toddler I knew this as I hugged my arm ‘round her leg, rested my cheek against her smooth thigh and looked upward at the delightful rest of her. After swimming, she took me into the shower with her and rinsed me off. I loved it—the intimacy of our bathing together, the warm water, my wonderful young mom with the golden blond hair standing over me naked. I watched her rinsing the salt from her hair, the water flowing over the pure white skin, which her bathing suit hid from the sun and the calm tan the sun’s rays had lavished upon her glistening legs. Her sweet image mesmerized me. It was a period of calm life, a good time for a sprout to grow.
There it is. A memory. An artefact to hoard and cherish. Not to be launched into the attic dust but carefully stored within the mind as experience. We all hoard experiences. You really cannot throw them away, even if desperate to do so. You’d have to throw yourself away. And of course, that’s been done, many times over, always with the same, sad ending.
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From a very brief essay, to interesting and sometimes educational short stories and novellas, this collection of internal ruminations by 30 authors offers unexpected and possibly profound insights on making changes in order to move forward with life. Some changes are necessary for survival..
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Thanks for sharing. Great review.
Thank you for the review and giveaway, greatly appreciated
This book was different than I was expecting but great diversity
This book was different than I was expecting but great diversity
I can't wait to read this. I love anthologies! I've found so many great authors by checking them out :)
Thank you for the chance!
Sounds like a great read.
Thanks for the chance, sounds like a great read
Thanks so much for the giveaway and giving us the chance to win
Happy Hump Day and thank you for the opportunity to win
I appreciate you giving us the opportunity to win, thank you