The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project: TELEPHONE

For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.

I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?

For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above.

This month's prompts are straws, studio, stuffed animal, summer job, tattoos, telephone, tennis court, test, theater.

TELEPHONE

When I was a teenager the person I talked most to on the phone was my best friend Jennifer. I had a phone in my bedroom, and at night, I'd lie in bed mostly listening to Jennifer. We laughed A LOT. One thing that has always helped serious-minded me is having funny friends!

When I worked at Disney during a semester in college, I left behind a boyfriend. So the phone in the apartment I shared with three other young women was pretty important. It was hooked up in the kitchen area, so to get any privacy, I'd stretch the cord down the hall and sit just inside the door of my room. We broke up, got back together, missed each other, got over each other, fell in love again – in short, we grew up. Or at least, I did – or was beginning to grow and change and become myself. I can't really speak for him. It was a confusing, important time for me, as it was my first time away from my family of origin, and the relationship with the boyfriend ended for good shortly after. He was a sweet guy – just not MY sweet guy.

I have a distinct memory of the first time I spoke to Paul on the phone – we'd never met, so it was really our first introduction to one another. I had been sick with a chest cold, and for whatever reason, I was lying on the floor of my room. We talked, and it was so comfortable... I remember giving him directions to my house and generally just feeling excited about our upcoming first date. From the first time I heard his voice, I knew he was something special. This coming April we will celebrate 30 years together since that first date!