Let's make believe

When I was in third grade my family moved away from the house I was born in. Far from the neighborhood friends I knew.

The new house was on a one way street with few kids and none in my class.

That first winter was hard for me. I spent long hours playing alone in my room. I found it hard to make friends at school. 

I was very lonely.

My mom would say, "just go out and find some kids to play with."
Which used to be easy in our old neighborhood with row after row of tiny houses packed full of kids.

Not so much on our little, tree lined, one-way street.

Winter turned to spring and my mother kept urging me out the door. 

Early that first summer I ventured down the hill towards the end of the street.
There was a house with a clothesline strung from the back door to a tree. That day I saw someone had fashioned a bed sheet over the line and had painted flowers and vines all over it.

It looked like a tent. 

I saw someone playing outside and I don't know what gave me the courage that particular day but I approached her and met the girl who made this handmade fort.

For me it was a lifeline.

A person who thought like me and dreamed like me.

Another person who loved to make things. Who used her imagination.

She became my best friend.

I woke every day that summer just waiting until I could go down the hill to play

Make believe.

Stoneware paperclay,  13 x 16 x 6, 2022