It's another happy day in the Levy household because, in addition to the fact that I'll be working from home today and I finally managed to log six continuous hours of sleep last night, my latest column was published in today's edition of the London Free Press.
This piece, entitled Fixing the hurt - one bandage at a time, marks the second time that I first posted a rough cut of the article to my blog before shaping it and submitting it to my editors. It's yet another useful purpose to this blog. I'm sure I'll discover even more cool things about this medium in the coming weeks and months.
I was inspired one morning last week by my daughter, who came to me with news of yet another in a long string of boo-boos in her still-young life. This time, she bumped her knee. A couple of days earlier, it was her finger. An hour later, her little brother trundled over and tearfully showed me his earlobe.
I don't quite know why some events spark an idea while others just languish in the ether for an eternity. But this one did. As soon as I had her all fixed up - with a Strawberry Shortcake bandage, some soothing words and a hug - I dumped my thoughts into the computer and let them sit. After a quick temperature check with my wife - I think she has a better sense of which ideas will ultimately fly and which ones won't - I realized this could be a good thing if I evolved it. It ended up being a really simple story filled with colorful imagery that, I hope, readers can relate to their own experiences.
I hope you enjoy the piece. I hope it evokes more than a mere smile, however. I hope it takes you back to whatever happies you encountered during your own childhood and have held on to ever since. We all seem to have a rich trove of recollections from that long-vanished time in our lives. Going back there every once in a while isn't such a bad thing after all.
Thanks for the column, Carmi. I really enjoyed it. As a child I was always very jealous of the kids whose parents readily distributed band-aids despite a clear need for one. My parents were more practical, dare I say stingy about the handing out of band-aids!
ReplyDeleteMy mother did, however, teach my sisters and me to deal with lightening and thunderstorms very well. Whenever it was raining hard, or better yet, there was a real electrical storm, we would make hot chocolate, get a good book, and hunker down in bed. It was very comforting, and almost made us look forward to storms. I've passed this on to my kids as well.