Sit With It
About Sit With It: Sit With It is a community storytelling project. These stories are shared just as they were written, memories, imperfect sentences and all.
Reflection is a cousin of Nostalgia. But reflection means looking inward when a memory comes alive.
When I was a 20 something, recently divorced single mom of twins, we had very little extra money. I worked shifts at a hospital and traded babysitting with a long time neighbor.
As my children transitioned from infants to toddlers to school age, we still struggled with finances. Near our rental was the Delaware River. Palmyra had installed benches so folks could sit and watch the boats and barges go by.
One summer evening, when the twins were about 6, we started going to sit by the river. I took my crochet bag and worked on hats, scarves, small wraps so they’d have warmth in the cold winter days.
As I stitched, I’d tell them stories I made up on the fly. Where the barge was going – some exotic port and what the cargo was. Sometimes it was cranberries going to Cadiz. Or the large motorboat going by was actually a sweet 16 party.
As they grew older we kept the tradition going. In Jr high we talked about bullies or pressure from peers. By high school it was clicks & colleges.
At least once a week we would go to “our” bench until they went off to college.
Like all things, life changes. Work, dating, health, living all started to fill up the space.
But when they’d come home for breaks we’d find at least one time to head to the bench.
Once graduation happened, job offers, marriage, babies, all took precedence.
I was still working hospital shifts. And on occasion, when the apartment was too quiet, I’d take my crochet bag down by the river but now I was making hats & booties for grand babies I’d see on holidays and maybe for a week in the summer.
One day I got an unexpected visit on a fall evening. My eldest daughter showed up with her 2 children asking to stay for a while. Never a problem. I went to work the next day and came home to an empty house. Her car was there but no one was home.
I looked out my window through the now bare trees. The bench was barely visible but I saw an adult head bobbing & pointing towards the river. I grabbed some apple slices, 2 juice boxes and 2 cold IPAs.
As I got closer I heard my 30 yr old daughter say to her 4 yr old son “See that barge? It’s filled with blueberries headed to Brussels.”
KimD
Editor’s note: Have a favorite place to sit? In a diner? Or on a tree stump? A blanket on the ground?
Submit your stories for our Community feature: Sit With It.
