9 Comments

The pickax of the last line. Perfect.

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💓💓💓

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I heard Ruth’s rough rough draft when she first wrote this at a writing retreat we both attended this fall. I remember exactly where we were sitting when she first read it out loud to us. Such a great and memorable piece! She kept true to her original draft that captured the essence of that moment when memories flood our consciousness!

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Thank you for reading 💓

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What a blessing that she knew her granddaughter loved her. The last line will be keeper for me.

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💓💓💓

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Beautiful!! "To me she was like a loving wounded bird.." Your story touched me right to the core. Thank you.

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So perfectly written and told, the essay showed the writer’s imagination as a child but also her flinching under the flawed relationships that she saw between her grandparents. Delightful to read. Toothpick containers turning evil in the dark. Perfect childhood memory. Loved it. Thank you for sharing.

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I love the surprise shift to not your not typical grandma. The focus on the cool yet scary Toothpick Man is wonderful!

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