To Get Started

A few examples...

Leonard is 78, and he loves to play tennis against 18-year-olds and beat them. He doesn't move like a teenager, but he always seems to know where any ball hit on his side of the net will be. When a shot comes his way, his racket will be ready to greet the ball, sending it sharply back to where his opponent isn't.

As a know-it-all kid, I never appreciated my Uncle John. He was not like my Uncle Walt. Walt wrestled, played catch and taught me the right way to swing a bat. John asked questions that I did not understand and gave me long answers filled with details that I thought were boring.

At midnight, he dreams about finding a job that would let him sleep in his own bed and have things like his name and address beside it printed in a telephone book. Simple daydreams like these come to him when he tries to sleep and blot out the day.

A quick question: In the past 24 hours, whom have you talked about or thought about?

The people we run into in our lives capture our attention and imagination. They occupy our thoughts and their actions lead to stories that tell our friends. Some of the people have tremendous influence in shaping us. Some have embraced us, pushing us toward goals, nurturing and teaching us; others have pushed us away, physically and emotionally. The people in our lives live in our minds. These are the people who have helped us discover our place in the world. The first writing task deals with one of them.