194A. Your urn

"Blue and White Covered Urn" by James Whistler

Darlene gives the narrator an urn that includes the narrator's wedding ring and the ashes of some of the women's magazines they stole from the clinic where she got her mammograms. The gift marks the ceremonial ending of a trying time in the narrator's life, a "remnant of a horrible, no good, very bad year."

The narrator also leaves her "Anti-Joke" book in the waiting room, too, as a kind of legacy or a way to "pay-it-forward" to other women who may face some of the same challenges she has faced.

To complete this prompt, create a ceremonial way to move forward from a phase that you are currently moving out of or on from--either your high school years, your first year of college, your summer, a relationship, a job, or something else.  You might choose to burn a small thing that symbolizes the phase you are leaving--such as something you've written down about the experience (do so safely!)  You may also choose to make a contribution to someone else who might follow in your wake.

Your assignment is to report on the experience after completing it. You may or may not include details about what you are moving on from (you may keep that to yourself). Describe whether you found the experience to be memorable or helpful in any way and why.