One of the homeschooling assignments is a creative writing prompt. In an effort to help my son understand what we are looking for, I created the below post as an example and I wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think!

 

I look at this picture of a porch, and I can’t help but remember the times my grandmother and I sat on her porch in rural Georgia. We used to drink sweet tea and let the world pass by. I would watch the cars on the main road in the distance and create backstories for the people I saw, pondering the histories each person had. Who were these people? Where are they going? Were they parents, teachers or friends? I see a beautiful young woman and decide that she is doing her weekly grocery shopping while her architect husband designs skyscrapers for big developers in Atlanta and her young children learn important lessons in elementary school.

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There is a huge lake next to the main road, and though I can’t see the boats, I can hear them. I wonder about them too. What are they doing? How many fish have they caught? When did they get there? I decide that one boat screaming through the silence is a retired banker who toiled away his life building an empire, losing his family in the process. He is now single, alone, wasting his days fishing on this very lake with no one to share it with. He seems happy, but on the inside, he is sad and lonely, wishing he had someone to share his life with. Not too far away is a father with his young daughter, both enjoying the wonderful weather. This father is teaching his daughter all the ins and outs of fishing because it is their special hobby together, the way they connect on a deep level that brings out the best of their relationship. This weekly fishing trip is what she will remember for the rest of her life and share with her children decades later.

At the marina on the other side of the lake, there is a young family visiting the lake for the first time. I imagine the father and mother helping their toddler into a life jacket while the marina’s boat captain watches. In a few minutes, this captain will shove off, and the family will enjoy the boat trip across the lake, eventually stopping and watching the captain as he teaches the entire family how to fish.

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When our tea is done, we go in, slightly tired of the mid-summer heat that Georgia is known for, but these stories will stay with me forever, and tomorrow morning as we sit outside with our tea and watch the world again, I will create more, and decades later, I will remember this time with my grandmother, even as she moves from this world to the next. I will sit on my own porch with my own grandchildren, and hopefully we will watch the world pass by as they create stories for the new generation of people that drive by while we drink our tea and enjoy the time together.