A Moment in Time - Short Essay

A Moment in Time

Cecelia D Norwood
English 311
Professor Sayre
Monday, May 7, 2012

A Moment in Time

I was asked to capture a special time in my life and reflect on it, as I look back on my life, the one I hold dear to me is when I was a child. I guess I was about ten years old. I came from a family of ten. Being from a large family it was always something going on in our house. My mother was a stay at home mom who took raising her children her pride and joy. My stepdad worked a lot on various construction jobs. We were a very close family, I have sibling older than I and sibling younger than I so that placed me in the middle. Things in our house would get very hectic sometimes and I would just want to be alone.

My mother would often see me sitting alone in a corner at times and would ask me, “What’s wrong?” I would just reply, “I just need a special place of my own.” My mom would say to me, “Seal go and find that special place that you can call your own.” One day I saw my brother and his friends go across the street to this huge open field. The field had weeds that grew very high; in the middle of those weeds was an enormous mulberry tree that hung low to the ground.

One day my best friend Jackie came down from Calvary Manor. My family lived in Southside, close to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth called Newtown. In the 1970’s Southside had large Victorian Houses. We lived in a predominately mixed community. My house was near a corner grocery store called King’s market. One day, Jackie and I decided to venture over to the big open field. I ran through the tall weeds and Jackie followed and we just began to play and laugh. We came to a place and the open field that stood this huge mulberry tree that hung close to the ground. Jackie and I went inside to take a look as well as to get out of the sun. When we got inside it looked like someone had used it for a clubhouse. So I decided this would be my special place away from home.

We ran back to my house to look for some old curtains, wooden boxes, and chair pillows to fix up my new special place. My mother asked me, “Why did I need it?” I told her that Jackie and I had found my special place. She said go look into my old trunk and you will find some old stuff I no longer use. Jackie and I found lots of stuff, we went to the mulberry tree and begin fixing it up. This became our clubhouse. We would meet their every Saturday or whenever she came down to visit. We read books, play games, did our homework, or just simply talked.

Whenever I just did not want to be crowded in my house, I would go to the clubhouse. It always smelled like fresh mulberries. During the summer vacation we collected the mulberries, rinsed them with water, sprinkled sugar on top of them and had ate them. Sometimes we would invite our other friends or my brother and his friends. We enjoyed our special hide away for the spring and summer.

One Saturday during the summer Jackie did not come over. Jackie never missed coming to my house. I went to her grandmother’s house and she said that Jackie was in the hospital. At ten years old, older people never wanted to tell you anything. I asked my mom what was wrong with Jackie. She said that she caught a serious cold that made her very sick. I asked if I could I go visit Jackie in the hospital. She said when Jackie come home from the hospital she would take me to see her.

I did not see Jackie for a long time. I went to the clubhouse many times alone and played by myself wishing that Jackie was there. One afternoon my brother came to the big mulberry tree and told me that my mom wanted to speak with me and to come home. My mom told me that Jackie went to be with the angels in Heaven. Jackie’s grandmother came to talk with me and she gave me a big hug and kissed me. She said that Jackie loved me and you are her good friend. My mother took me to her funeral and Jackie had a big smile on her face. I knew that Jackie was with God. I cried and cried because I missed my best friend and my mother would just wipe my tears away and pray with me.

I never went back to the big mulberry tree again. I would look at the open field from my house and remember how much fun we shared. I felt like the mulberry tree house was not fun anymore and it was time for someone else to enjoy the clubhouse. I just wanted to remember all the fun times I had with Jackie. Eventually, I learned to accept Jackie’s death and I found another best friend and we talked about Jackie. I will always remember this “moment in time” in my life that was so special to me. I had an opportunity to share it with a special friend.