The first voice exercise that Barbara Samuel had us do was write for four minutes on this topic: Describe the house you lived in when you were seven years old.
Timer set? GO!
Here’s what I wrote:
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I still dream about the house on Splendora Drive. It was in a subdivision called Candlewood, down a long road through acres of pine trees, surrounded by more pine forests on every side. All those trees are gone now and the land has been developed, but back then it was just as described: a candle in the wood. I guess I’ve always been destined to live at the Edge of the Wood.
The best part about being so isolated is that the children had the run of the place. We rode our bikes in gangs up and down the street and through the rough terrain behind our houses. We played football in each other’s yards.
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Of course, I was going to go on about Matt and Andrew, my best friends who lived in the subdivision, but Barbara called time.
Matt grew up and married my best friend Margo. Andrew grew up and became a ninja. Monday was Andrew’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!