Late in the spring, we shared a piece by Carol Anne responding to this same prompt… Now read another submission by a writer in the Unspoken Ink summer session…
The nights had felt endless and so had the days. The longest 8-minute phone call 18 months before was culminating in the longest, last 7 days.
Seven days of middle of the night meds.
Seven days of a constant stream of visitors.
Seven days of catch up phone calls.
Seven days of a beautiful, snowy world.
Seven days of ignoring the inevitable.
Seven days of silence.
Pills became syringes of liquids and creams. People became so far away, emotional expanses opening up the already pronounced physical distances between us. The world continued on outside in a ruthless veil of normalcy. Nods and blinks turned into silence.
The topic we’d ignored crashed through the house. It sloshed at our ankles and slowly rose up our legs, torsos, up to our noses.
I wanted to shout. Hit the rewind button. Ask all the questions I never knew I had and make space for the ones I hadn’t yet formed.
But then, all of a sudden, the seven days were over.
You were gone.
How would you respond to the writing prompt, ‘a moment’? “Everybody has a moment when you know nothing is going to be the same ever again, when one part of your life ends and another begins. This is when you know that the changes, for better or worse are going to be coming hard and fast. You’re on a roller coaster and all you can do is hope that your safety belt stays fastened and that you’ll come out in one piece. These moments are what make us who we are, and I know I wouldn’t be quite me without mine.”
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This writing comes directly from one of our participants in our Unspoken Ink Creative Writing Group for young adult cancer survivors. The participants are meeting for 2 hours each week, for 8 weeks during our Summer 2018 session. This writing has not been edited since its original creation, showing the wonderfully raw and powerful prose coming from the courageous writing group participants each week. If you’d like to sign up for future sessions, please email info@lacunaloft.org or sign up on our interest form.
