
Between Two Kingdoms, by Suleika Jaouad is one of the best books I read last year. I was so inspired by it as a writer and a human. Suleika started a writing community during the pandemic call The Isolation Journals. I receive her weekly newsletter which always contains a writing prompt. Today, I’m writing to the prompt “What We Leave Behind” by Joy Juliet Bullen. The heart of this prompt is to find an old object or picture and examine it for clues about the person that left it behind or what might have been happening in the moment.

As a child, this is how I spent every Wednesday of the summer. A day on Lake Monroe. My dad’s pride and joy, Bubba, a 1967 Chris Craft, was given to him by his father when he was a teenager. It is a beautiful wooden boat that he has cared for by hand for over 50 years. It is not just a relic; it doesn’t just sit to be looked at. My dad takes it out and enjoys it. My parents now live on a lake, and Bubba is still running and gets noticed every time my dad putters around the lake in him.
Clues about the past in this picture:
- Who is taking this picture? My Grandad. He was sitting on the back bench in the boat. He would often join us on our Wednesday boating trips. He was so proud of my dad and his love for water and this boat. I remember looking for geodes with Grandad. We would sink in the mud and at the banks and pull big out big geodes and try to get them back to the boat.
- My dad is driving the boat. He was always the driver. Never my mom. Never my Grandad. Never my brother or I, even when we got older. That was his role.
- My dad’s hair blowing in the wind. He was blessed with a full head of dark hair, and still has it to this day. My Grandad has been bald for as long as I can remember.
- My mom’s hand has probably just pushed her hair back out of her eyes. Of course it was windy on our boat rides. I remember how tangly my hair would be after a day at the lake. Matted down from repeatedly getting in and out of the water, drying, getting wet again, blowing in the wind. It was a rat’s nest by the time we got home.
- My brother and I lying face down on the motor box. We loved riding on the motor box. The vibration from the engine would lull us into a peaceful rest, sometimes even to sleep.
- The strap from the scratchy orange life jackets. They were so uncomfortable, but it was the rule. You wore your life jacket on the boat when it was moving. I remember what a treat is was to take your life jacket off for lunch.
- My feet curled over the back of the front seats. I can feel the sticky upholstery under my left foot and the cool sheet under my right foot.
- The Mini Mouse towel behind my mom’s back. The polka dotted sheet draped over the front seat.
- The leg of the ladder that hung along the back of the front seat. It was a challenge to get in and out of the boat. And we were always reminded to make sure the legs were out on the ladder or the boat would get scratched.
Boating with my family was a huge part of my childhood. I have such happy memories from it. My love of the sun and water was definitely a trait passed down from my parents.
