What You Remember

On Amos’s 110th birthday he was asked: “Having lived through so much history, if you had a time machine, what event would you go back and relive?”
     He answered right away: “It was my first day of school, one of those crisp September mornings. The leaves were still green, but there was this whiff of Autumn and wood smoke in the air. I was standing with Mom in the schoolyard. She smelled of lilac soap. She smiled and squeezed my hand before letting go. If I could do it over again, I’d squeeze her hand back, before I rushed away.

Inspired by 58 is the New 58. Illustration by Nancy Kay Clark.