Home is not where I live with my husband. Home is not where I raised my kids. Home is the Artist’s loft, the place I always imagined I’d live if I wasn’t living on a small kibbutz in the middle of the desert.
Home is my Dad in the Nursing Home perched on his chair with the best vantage point because he can see everyone coming in and out of the dayroom/dining-room.
Home is my father’s concern about the dynamics of race and social class -the stratification of employees at The Manor. Home is my father’s deeply rooted caring for the other residents who sometimes die and sometimes leave because their families are ready for them to come home.
Home is where my father knows that Mayling Soong, married Chiang Kai-Shek after graduating from Wellesley College and that Charlotte Towle created the foundational curriculum for the study of Social Work. Which is all the more astonishing since Wellesley is right down the street and China is a world away.
Home is my memory of him singing “I am woman hear me roar,” and the handwritten note on the refrigerator door saying: In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday we will be serving…” and the meal on the table that is sumptuous and warm.
Thank you, Colleen Kinder and Milly, for this writing prompt. Have a healthy and just new year!
—
Originally Published on Bulletproof Therapist
—
◊♦◊
Here are more ways to become a part of The Good Men Project community:
Request to join our private Facebook Group for Writers—it’s like our virtual newsroom where you connect with editors and other writers about issues and ideas.
Click here to become a Premium Member of The Good Men Project Community. Have access to these benefits:
- Get access to an exclusive “Members Only” Group on Facebook
- Join our Social Interest Groups—weekly calls about topics of interest in today’s world
- View the website with no ads
- Get free access to classes, workshops, and exclusive events
- Be invited to an exclusive weekly “Call with the Publisher” with other Premium Members
- Commenting badge.
Are you stuck on what to write? Sign up for our Writing Prompts emails, you’ll get ideas directly from our editors every Monday and Thursday. If you already have a final draft, then click below to send your post through our submission system.
If you are already working with an editor at GMP, please be sure to name that person. If you are not currently working with a GMP editor, one will be assigned to you.
◊♦◊
Are you a first-time contributor to The Good Men Project? Submit here:
◊♦◊
Have you contributed before and have a Submittable account? Use our Quick Submit link here:
◊♦◊
Do you have previously published work that you would like to syndicate on The Good Men Project? Click here:
—