School Picnic

Dear Mom,

I remember one year when we had a school picnic it was some sort of bi-centennial theme. We had to dress up like the olden days of that era. I don’t remember what it was to represent, but I remember the outfit that you made Ruthie and I. I couldn’t participate in the parade or the picnic that year because I had the mumps. I was so disappointed. We lived just a house away from the schoolyard and I could hear all the screaming and hollering from the kids on the rides.

Today I was to meet some friends at the school picnic, but just like the bi-centennial year I will be missing it. Not because of mumps—another kind of illness. And I will envision the same things I did back then—the cotton candy, the smell of the hot air coming off the motors of the scrambler or tilt-a-whirl, sticky kids running around begging their parents for another dollar, crying babies not wanting to be on the merry-go-round, boys and girls deciding if they’ll ride the ferris wheel together, picking up a lost ticket and getting a free ride. I hope my friends eat something good in my honor although they probably won’t even know I’m missing just as sure as I am now that no one knew I was missing on that bi-centennial year.

Mom, thanks for taking care of me. Wish you were here now.