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| "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.
Last semester I moved into my grandparents' rent house that I remodeled. I lived here for a full semester and sometimes throughout the summer. Although I spent a lot of time here in my mind it was a temporary home because I move back for the summer or go back to work on the weekends. However, this year I will be down here much more. Last summer could have been my last summer moving back home because I am getting to the point in life where marriage is a factor in my future as well as a more long-term job that will go towards and benefit my future job. These things are hard to do when you have to move back and forth. So, since this is like the end of a chapter for me, instead of making an urn of sorts to show a chapter in my life has ended I did some different things. Although I lived in my rented house for about 9 months, I did not decorate it. I put up some things here and there, but I didn’t make it a home. Instead of closing an old chapter because that makes me sad since it would be my childhood, I just decided to open a new one. I spent all day yesterday moving in fully and at the end instead of stopping and enjoying my time sitting and relaxing after a long day, I finally decorated my house.
ReplyDeleteI have always been fascinated by the "burn the boats" story Hernan Cortez. I have occasionally made a list of things that I would like to leave behind, folded it up into a paper boat, and burned it. I have also done it with friends and is always very fun to burn our paper boats together. The last few years I have been in Peru and now it is time continue with my studies here in the states. I love the memories I have made in Peru and while I don't want to burn anything I do want to preserve what I have gained and make the changes needed to adjust back to school. For me an annotated photo album was the way to preserve these memories and capture them so that I can make room for more
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