Monday, March 8, 2021

#SOL21 | 08 | This is Not that Slice

A few days ago I wrote about my dad and I referenced very specifically "blue choir robes."  Colleen asked me for more about those and, instead of answering in a comment, I thought it appropriate to use as a slice in the future.  After all, I'm always telling my own students to get ideas from the comments people leave on their blogs.  

Then during notebook time with my students today I worked on a rough draft of that slice -- knowing I would get to type it all up this evening.  Wasn't I smart to work on the slice in advance instead of frantically typing it?  

I paid careful attention to my details, trying to capture the memory and what I enjoyed about the choir robes, being in the adult choir with my dad.  Trying to recall what it was like to have an actual choir in an actual church -- both things I have gone without for so long now.  It made me reflect on how not only has my relationship with my dad changed, but so has my relationship with church. 

I was excited to share that slice with you all, but unfortunately this is not that slice.

Because while I was gathering my things to leave, I managed to remember to grab my winter coat (it's warm in the afternoons, but still chilly in the mornings) but not my notebook.  I grabbed the thing I wouldn't need until tomorrow morning, but forgot to grab the one thing I would need this evening.

I feel more naked without my notebook than I do my coat!  Ugh!  Of all the things to leave behind.   I hope you will forgive me, notebook -- you will not have to be alone for long.

So this is not the slice about blue choir robes, this is the slice about the tragedy of forgetting one's writer's notebook.  A piece of me left abandoned and alone on a desk in a darkened classroom. 


This post is part of the 14th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge.  
#SOL21 and information around Slicing can be found on Two Writing Teachers.


10 comments:

  1. This is hands-down one of my favorite slices I've read. Your final sentence drew all your thoughts together, and I pictured a part of your heart being left behind in the dark. I want to read more about the blue choir robes, for now I'm basking in what a gift you are to the students you serve. Be sure to share this piece with your class tomorrow!

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    1. Thank you so much! I didn't realize how important my notebook was to me until I left it behind. I feel like that says a lot about how important it is to me right there.

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  2. Leaving the notebook behind does feel significant!!! Looking forward to hearing more about those robes. ;)

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  3. Oh, the best laid Slice plans, Erica. But this one gifted itself to you. So glad you were there to notice, accept, and receive it. Sometimes we miss them when they call to us.

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    1. Right? I had that thought as I was trying to figure out what to do without my notebook with my slice in it -- obviously write about not having the notebook lol.

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  4. Are you sure this wasn't planned to bring us back tomorrow!?! :)
    I can't wait to read it!

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    1. I swear it wasn't planned -- though I would be lying if I said it didn't occur to me that this would be a great way to get people to come back tomorrow/today ;D

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  5. I'm eager to read about the choir robes, too! Our notebooks have become so important to us! I'm sure I'd feel the same if I left my notebook.

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  6. I love it. It's a cliff hanger. I'll be back to read about the robes. I was just reading in "Writing Toward Home" where Georgia Heard talks about taking your notebook with you. I honestly don't but I'm considering it now...

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    1. I used to have a notebook for school and a notebook for home, but then I wound up having things in one that I wanted in the other. So now I just try and remember to carry it with me!

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