I challenge you to write about…

Silence

A walk in the woods. A child sleeping. Reading together. OR An empty house. The room when you are lonely. What is left after the mad.

For me, the best kind of silence happens when two people are so in sync that they don’t need to talk to know what is in the other person’s heart. When hubby and I are sitting next to each other in peace reading. When my best friend and I just get to be together. When a book so takes over my soul that I see all of it in my mind’s eye.

I also love the silence of being in nature. Being out away from the world, but with someone (or more than one) who makes my heart sing. Being able to notice the small details of the forest or the desert. Being overwhelmed by the history of a tree or a cactus that has lived for decades. Knowing that I am attached to this part of the world just because I am.

My least favorite silence? At the end of the day, while I am waiting for the world. Sitting in the apartment with little I want to do or little my brain will let me do. The feeling of loneliness gets to be overpowering. On good days, these silences are filled with words to share. On sick days, they are spent waiting to feel better. This part of silence is why the word of the day comes when it does. I am just about at the end of my rope by 4pm. I need the interactions of sharing a word with the world. I need to hear back from the world that what I do matters — even if only for an instant.

I challenge you to tell us about the silence of your world. I want to hear what silence means to you. Does silence make you wonder? Does it remind you to love or of loss? What kind of silence moves your heart? What kind brings tears (of joy or of pain) to your eyes?

Truth matters here — not as in your piece has to be drawn from a real incident — rather I want to hear the truth of what silence means to you. Submissions can be poems, essays, stories, or photos.

Please be sure to give your piece the tag “Silence”. The other four tags can be anything you wish.