September 27, 2007 Archives

I would rather not read a paraphrased dictionary definition or something snagged from Wikipedia or UrbanDictionary.com. Maybe you could make up a new word that should exist, but doesn't. (Why isn't there a word for the little dance that happens when you meet someone coming the other way in the hall, and you both step in the same direction to let the other person pass, then you both step in the opposite direction, and finally you make eye contact with each other and laugh?) Or you could describe an event that only takes place in your family. (For my family, Thanksgiving Day dinner was not complete without a ceremonial presentation of a plate of cranberry sauce -- cylindrical, quivering, standing on one end. Someone would say "Here's the cranberry sauce," and everyone else would say, "in the shape of the can." Since I hated stuffing with onions, and my sister hated stuffing with raisins, my mother would make special bowls for each of us. The arrival of the cranberry sauce was a unifying event. I don't think any of us really liked cranberry sauce, but it was an important part of the day. Here's a related thought, that I might be able to work into the paragraph if I found the right thesis... my father never criticized my mother's cooking -- never ever. When she served him Lima beans, he ate them. So she kept buying them, thinking he liked them. He kept eating them, thinking the reason that she kept serving them was because *she* liked them. My mother was shocked the day my father finally told her that he didn't like Lima beans any more than the rest of us. We all rejoiced, knowing that we would find ourselves eating far fewer Lima beans in the future. Could I find a way to tell that story along with the stuffing and cranberry sauce story, all in a single 200-word paragraph? Chances are, I would have to pick just one story -- but it's better to choose the best story out of three possibilities, instead of desperately trying to squeeze insight out of the first story that seems plausible.)