Where I'm From...

Ria discovered this fun poetry/form on one of her favorite sites - UK Bookworm (she got hooked on this blog when the bookworm was doing a literary tour of England) - and I thought I'd give it a try too. Looks like I finished mine first. Here is the template the bookworm referenced and which we used, but some of it got a little lost in the cutting and pasting. (after I finished mine, Ria said "What's 'sensory detail'?" Me: "Where was that?") Anyway...

I am from bag lunches, from Cheerios and school uniforms.

I am from quiet suburbs that overgrew fertile orchards.

I am from the morning glory, the daisy; lemon bush and orange tree and a piece of garden all my own.

I am from taffy pull parties and gingerbread houses at Christmas, from my parents and six siblings and lots of laughter, noise and love.

I am from "the latest" computers and thrift-store clothes and singing around the fireplace when the power went out.

From listening to my mom read Narnia and believing I could do anything if I worked hard and put my mind to it.

I am from the Catholic Church for generations and from far-off lands.

I'm from San Francisco, Canada, Ireland, Luxemburg and the Azores; spaghetti, linguica and sourdough bread.

From a third order Carmelite Portuguese whaler, from an Irish noblewoman who married a blacksmith and from her great-grandson who never made it to New Zealand because he met my grandmother while stuck in San Francisco with the flu.

I am from hundreds and hundreds of pictures and slides squirreled in the upper shelves of my bedroom closet; glimpses of the past treasured more each day as my children begin to see where they're from.