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........THE
FAMILIAR Vol 1, Iss 2..............................................................................................................................
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BEHIND
THE SCENES OF AN EMOTION LITERACY E-ZINE MISSION
STATEMENT THE FAMILIAR VOL. 1 ISS. 2. Missed an issue of the familiar? Click here to browse through our entire back-issue archive! |
yellow friend when i was in my mother's belly a yellow friend found me and asked if i wanted to play. still uncertain about the ways of the world but certain about her warm glow i answered, "i guess." so we played and played for years. yellow friend took my hand and showed me how to skip lollygag style. how to sing and make up rhymes. she showed me how to turn yellow dandelions to butter on my chin and how to blow white ones to seed. she showed me how to fold water into dirt, then pour it all into a pan and let it bake in the sun for a delicious mud pie. she was the friend who showed me my eyes. one day she took me under the shade of a weeping willow tree and told me, "you'll need these tears some day." she showed me how to tie knots that were as tight as fists and said, "if we tie enough of them and we can build a ladder to the sky!" one by one we knotted off the rungs of the ladder and one by one we climbed up into the sky. as we skipped and hurdled through the fluffy puffy cloud fields she yelled, "don't worry if you loose your footing and slip through. the cloud floating below will catch you." a few minutes later i did slip and fell through but the cloud below caught me. it was true! after the sky day, yellow friend didn't come to play anymore. each day i'd walk down the street to the spot by the yellow house where we'd always meet. while i waited i'd pick a dandelion and make butter on my chin. i'd get tired of waiting so i'd call out for her, "hey yellow friend! oh, yellow friend!" she never came. i stopped going to the place we'd always meet. didn't want to go outside. didn't want to sing in rhyme. didn't want to climb up into the sky. didn't want! NO! only wanted to give back the gift she gave me -my eyes. but my eyes didn't want to leave and they remembered the time yellow friend and i had spent under the shade of weeping willow tree. they found my coat, showed me the door and lead me to the tree. i sat down against the trunk and let out a big long sigh. i could hear the afternoon breeze sway the long branches and rustle the leaves. the more i listened the more i thought the rustling sounded like words. i opened my ears a little wider and heard something like this, "turn inside and find the river from which tears flow. walk down to the water and check the temperature with your finger. then stick in your toe, your foot, the other one. wade in up to your knees til the water touches the bottom of your belly. dive in. pull and kick yourself across. on the other side you'll be tired from the swim. lie down and, i promise you, soon you'll feel the familiar warm glow of yellow friend. that's where she lives on the other side of the river of tears, waiting for you to skip lollygag style, to sing in rhyme, to pick dandelions and turn them to butter on your chins."
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The
Familiar encourages you to explore your own use of language as a key |