Followers

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Springtime and Excerpt Number 5

It's Thursday and sunny and 70* gorgeous degrees! Spring has sprung. All the forsythias are a burst of yellow, my irises are pushing their way up, daffodils are in bloom, and the song birds are singing.

Ahhhhh the springtime. It is no wonder how poets of long ago, and even today, became inspired by the earth's annual rebirth. It is hope in green tender shoots of grass. It is energy in the buds waiting to POP open on the branches of trees. It is music to be in the midst of all the wild life and children at play. Ahhhh springtime.

So in honor of springtime, here is excerpt number 5 from my middle grade novel. It is about hope, and energy, rebirth, and the music of the relationships in our lives - especially the broken ones needing repair and renewal.



It’s not that he finally warmed up to me. He didn’t wrap his arms around me and tell me he loved me. It’s not that he even said another word to me, or that we spoke volumes to one another. But we did do something together, side-by-side. He pushed. I pulled. I placed. He moved. And together, we put the living room back. Piece by piece. To the way it was before.

When we were done, we plopped down on opposite ends of the couch, looking straight ahead. Not a single word was spoken, but I knew he was thinking the same thing – she’s gone. She’s really gone. And now it looks as though she was never here.

I guess I’d have to wait to bury my hair, because as long as Papa was willing to sit there, I was willing to sit there, until we watched the sun and moon trade places in the sky.

I thought, sometimes a living room’s just a living room, and a tree’s just a tree. Sometimes Mamas die and leave little girls alone. And sometimes Papas and Mamas get lost, even if they’re right beside you, in a store or sitting on a flowered couch

10 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

I LOVE the forsythias! This is something I never see here in Texas!!!! Wonder if I can plant some.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

You're probably not the right zone.

is tomorrow your big day?

PJ Hoover said...

YES!!!!!

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Congrats on your newly found freedom to write, write, write!

Chris Eldin said...

Beautiful excerpt. I love the sing-song melody of your words. If I could describe your writing in one word, it would be 'soothing.'
Very nice.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Thanks Christine! That's me, smooth, like easy jazz... At least my style isn't run-on sentences anymore!

Jeanne said...

One quick comment - I love all the beautiful tree photos you use on the site - adds a lovely touch!
(or is it Tristan writing? :o)

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Yes, yes the trees. I actaully running out of tree photos - will have to snap some myself - won't be as artistic as these though...

Sarah Hina said...

Beautiful, Sheri! I love the gentle melancholy, and the natural progressions in your writing. Sometimes silence can say everything.

Very nice! And I, too, am grateful for the new awakenings of spring. :)

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Thanks Sarah! I love your voice as well in your writing samples. They are excellent and so lyrical.

“Personal limitation exists only in our ideas of who we are. Give up all notions of who you are and your limitations will vanish.”

- Anonymous