Wild Mind Monday #2

Welcome to Wild Mind Monday! This is a virtual writing group in which we are going to be working our way through Natalie Goldberg's Wild Mind. The link each writing assignment will be posted here the first Monday of each month and will remain up for the duration of the month. If you are interested in joining in, leave a comment with your email address and I will send you this month's assignment. I also ask that you go to each linked blog and make comments on each other's work. When critiquing and making comments, please remember there is a person on the other side of the computer and we need to be kind and respectful while helping each other develop our writing skills. So let's have fun! 


This week we were prompted to play with the idea of returning home. Either return physically or mentally. We were asked to write about home in detail and try not to become sentimental. If need be, we were encouraged to write from a different perspective such as a pet, parent or friend.

"Let me see. Where to start. I would like to start with the concept of home. What is home? How do you know that you have found it?

The majority of the population has a clear cut understanding of home. But I am different. Home is usually where your family resides and where you grew up. Well...most of my family lives in a town I've never been to and in a house I've never seen.

The one place that I return to in my mind as home is my grandmother's house in Oklahoma.

I can talk about the many road trips we took to go 'home' in my childhood.

We would usually arrive in the wee hours of the morning. We would stumble out of the van or the car groggily. Since it was summer in Oklahoma it was hot and humid even in the dead of night. We wouldn't be wearing any shoes.

We would walk up the few stairs onto the porch. A blue glow would be shining on us from the bug zapper as the sound of mosquitoes being zapped filled the air.

The front door was always open but the screen door was locked. My grandma would be sleeping on the couch. A crisp white sheet would cover her makeshift bed.

Through the front door, looking to the left was a squat bookshelf. I believe it was under a window. Next to the book shelf was a tree-like plant. In the corner a little further from the plant was a desk. I'm sure there was a chair at the desk but I don't remember what it looked like.

Next to the desk was the old school television complete with knobs. I do believe it had a remote control to it though. On top of the television I remember there being the shell shaped ash tray that housed my grandpa's pipe and tobacco.

Next to the television was a chair. It was true upholstery. Almost like a tweed fabric. Plain. Boxy. Wooden legs.

Across from the television was the couch. In front of the couch was the coffee table. There was almost always a glass dish of candy on that table. Either lemon drops or jelly beans.

Next to the couch was an end table then my grandpa's leather recliner. He almost always had his jelly beans on the table next to the recliner. Black were his favorite.

A small open area separated the living room from the formal dining room. To the right of the open area was the kitchen; to the left, the hallway with the three bedrooms and the one bathroom.

The open area had a black grate in the floor. It had to have been about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and 1 1/2 to 2 feet wide. It was rectangular in shape and when the heat was on it would get hot. A gate had to be put around it to prevent little feet from getting burned on that vent.

In the dining room was the formal dining table along the left wall. It was never used but for holidays and remained pushed against the wall. Straight back was a window and an air conditioning unit. On the right wall was a wall unit or curio cabinet.

Walking through the door to the right of the open area was the kitchen. A phone hung on the wall to the left of the doorway. The kitchen table was there to the left, the refrigerator to the right. It was a normal kitchen; fridge and oven along the right wall. Sink and counters/cabinets on the back wall with a window above the sink. There was a door leading outside in the back left corner of that back wall. Along the left wall was a window, a metal rack and a wooden box that housed potatoes.

Back out to the open area and across to the hallway. Enter the hallway, my mother's bedroom to the left. That bedroom was pink and white and never changed. I don't remember a lot of detail about it. The pink and white quilt that was on the white bed. The octopus yarn doll that sat on the bed. Small deer figurines that adorned the bookshelf like headboard. In this room there was also a ceramic washing basin and pitcher. I remember loving that.

Walk out of that room and the guest room was along the left wall. Dark cherry wood furniture with a green comforter. All my grandma's clothes and nice church dresses hung in that closet. The bed was so tall we had to climb up onto it.

Further down the hallway on the right side was the bathroom. Tub to the left with a small window high up on the wall. Rag doll tissue box covers. That's about all I can remember about that room.

Finally, at the end of the hall was my grandpa's bedroom. There was a small bed that the holiday pies used to hide underneath. A small television was in this room and it had an air conditioning unit.

Oh. There was also a built in bookshelf in the hallway on the right wall when you entered the hallway and turned right.

The bedroom windows were all on the left side of the house. There was a fence around the yard and tons of weeds and tall grass on that side. The windows were left open at night and the bugs would chirp and sing their nightly songs.

There was a doghouse in the back yard, a shed and a clothes line. My grandma's huge garden was fenced off from the rest of the yard. There was a coffee can buried into the ground right inside the garden gate where they dumped coffee grounds, egg shells and fruit peels. In the garden were vegetables and fruit trees.

And that's about as much detail as I can remember about that place. There have been so many houses and states over the years. That was my one constant."

Thanks for reading my writing prompt for this week. I look forward to getting comments from you all and I hope to read all about your homes soon!