I’m from Barbie doll filled baths,
From cinnamon candles and Jell-O jigglers
I am from grandmas earrings (she avoided wearing hoops)
I am from splashing in the kiddy pool,
The playhouse that safely held by flashlights and giggles
My imagination in a TV made box.

I’m from suckers and plastic cash registers
From Gumby
I’m from “My Little Ponies” and playing wolf
From “why’s this” and “why’s that?”
I’m from amazing grace, and is it over yet,
And making fuzzy ball animals (I despised that glue gun)

I’m from Bill and Alveena’s automatic swings and teeter-totter
From noodle soup and sneaking cookie dough
From the ditch, when we made forts and the rope snapped
When angel stories were softly spoken to me
I’m from closets where I made a doggy bed
Spilling out with plush pillows and blankets
My lists of “why’s this?’
To be answered someday by God himself.

I am from chomping on colored marshmallows at church
So that I wouldn’t fuss
From spinning on tables, animal crackers,
And shoes 3 times too big
I’m from doing the inch worm
And getting head stuck in various things

I am from family
I am from family that was once whole,
And now, although separated and broken,
Still has memories that will always mend and hold us together