AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.
Dear Reader,
Every other month I feature a Penguin Classics. I love sampling the Classic because it gives me the chance to read a book I may have missed. I have a copy of this month's Penguin Classics book up for grabs for one lucky reader, so be sure to enter the drawing and sample this month's title: Penguin Book Of Migration Literature: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, Returns, edited and introduced by Dohra Ahmad. Start reading today and enter to win, click here.
To inspire you to enter this year's 15th Annual Write a DearReader Contest, I'm taking a look at Karen Friez's winning column from 2012...
32 Princess Street (Watch Out For Pink Dragons)
The doctor is in her office, which is a relief. You see, my giraffe's spots have turned into stripes. As a responsible pet owner, I am deeply concerned about this turn of events. So I have loaded my giraffe onto my imaginary school bus and driven to 5 year old Dr. Emily's office at 32 Princess Street, heeding her warning to watch out for pink dragons ambling across the road. As the young doctor studiously examines my giraffe, she informs me the problem is my pet food. It is turning my giraffe's spots into stripes. She doles out the proper food and medication and then disappears back into her office at the top of the playground's jungle gym. As the sun begins to set on the park, the veterinarian's office closes for the night and we begin our trek home, stopping for an imaginary dinner of grass soup with acorn bread.
Actor John Leguizamo once said that, in parenting, "the days are long and the years are short." This is the best description of parenting I've heard. As my daughter grew, she stopped visiting 32 Princess Street, her imagination captured by other things. I have traveled through each stage with her, from tea parties to Barbies to sleepovers, feeling both proud of her budding independence and sad for the things left behind.
As we go with our children minute by minute, hour by hour, sometimes we are too close to see the growth that is taking place, a lesson that was brought home to me by two photographs of my daughter taken at the same location one year apart. The physical differences in my daughter in just one year are striking. In the first photo, she is still a child, running away from the ocean's waves. But, in the second photo, she has developed into a young woman, standing her ground and greeting the water with open arms. I wonder, as I look at these photos, why I hadn't noticed the changes in her.
And I know there will be many more changes to come. There are still many firsts on the horizon, like her first boyfriend, who may also be become her first love, her first kiss and her first broken heart. From her first car to her first child, there are many milestones still to come in her life. As her mother I want everything to go smoothly, but I know that there will always be those pesky pink dragons (otherwise known as problems) trying to block her path in life. Sometimes those dragons will just be a small nuisance, but other times they will seem immovable. I hope, through it all, she learns that the power to overcome the dragons is within herself.
And so, for now, the office at 32 Princess Street is closed, relegated to the realm of childhood memories. But there are still many more memories to make in the years ahead. And perhaps, one day, she will have a daughter of her own, and they will return to 32 Princess Street and the land of the pink dragons.
You could be this year's winner, but you have to enter to win. Cash prizes, rules and deadlines, and last year's winning entries, read all about it here.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
I'm looking forward to reading your entry,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
Recent Comments