One raucous country night I taught my city-bred son that the crickets were chirping his name. We caught frogs. We chased a mouse. I found the heart of my heart in his smile.
This post was written in response to the Trifecta Writing Challenge prompt:
You should write a creative response using the third definition of the given word. You must use the word in your response, and you must use it correctly. Your response can be no fewer than 33 and no more than 333 words. This week’s word is:
HEART (noun)
1: a hollow muscular organ of vertebrate animals that by its rhythmic contraction acts as a force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood
2: a playing card marked with a stylized figure of a red heart
3: personality, disposition <a cold heart>
Christine Hanolsy 
I love the contrast of the beginning being raucous with the overall tenderness of the piece. Really enjoyed this.
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Thank you! The crickets really were deafening. That’s why my little guy couldn’t sleep. 🙂
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I love the magic you created with that line … “crickets were chirping his name.” – for me and for your little guy. I think I’ll hear crickets a little differently this evening. Visiting from Write on Edge.
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I’m glad you liked it. Do listen to the crickets – it’s not often we have the leisure to just sit for a moment and hear the night.
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“I found the heart of my heart in his smile.”
L O V E L Y
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🙂 Thank you! Every now and then, when I am relaxed enough to let myself notice, it just washes over me, y’know?
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Although in my experience, the cricket chirped his name, then he put it in his mouth.
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*giggle* Actually, I was operating under pressure. He’d been up out of bed a half-dozen times already, and this time it was because “the crickets are too loud.” I told him, “They’re singing you a lullaby, can’t you hear it? Nick-nick-nick, ‘night-‘night-‘night…” He totally fell for it, and that excuse (at least) was quashed.
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very sweet and love the visuals.
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Thank you – it was easy to write, considering the idyllic setting (out in the country in upstate New York, on a clear, quiet evening).
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So much meaning in so few words…. beautiful!!
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Thank you!!
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Beautiful! Love this line: “I found the heart of my heart in his smile.”
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Thank you! And congrats on your 3rd place finish this past week. I absolutely loved your piece (Love is Like an Infinite Loop).
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Like I previously said–lovely, as always. I can most definitely ‘feel’ the emotions of your words–almost aching with love for the experience you had with your son out there. I love this short and sweet piece!
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That’s exactly what I was feeling when I wrote it. The inspiration must have caught me in one of those moments between chaos and frustration. 🙂 (We were vacationing with friends in the country, with 4 kids under 4 in the house.)
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how your hearts are bound together … just amazing.
hi Cristine, you encouraged me with your kind words as you read my first entry over at “bob’s wife”, thank you again 🙂 unfortunately, i tinkered with my web address and i unintentionally deleted the whole thing … i hope to be able to take that step again and submit something on the next challenge.
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Oh no! Well, I hope you stick with it. The Trifecta folks are incredibly encouraging. If you are looking for other outlets, Write on Edge (www.writeonedge.com) is another great, supportive community.
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so sweet, so simple. (:
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Thanks, Renada!
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I really enjoyed the turn of the phrase in the last line. There’s multiple meetings and evocations of emotion.
This is a tight, interesting 33 words.
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Thanks, Lance. I had a hard time with the prompt – that third definition didn’t really come through – but I was rather pleased with the result regardless.
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That’s just lovely, and you got a lot of ambiance into very few words.
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Thank you! I could have written a ton more – it was a magical week, in a lot of ways – but more wouldn’t have necessarily been better, so I stuck with 33 words.
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This is beautiful – I can relate to the last line. Good for you for resisting the pull of the computer 🙂
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It was actually easiest at the beginning of the week. As time went on, my fingers started to itch…
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I love and respect your unwillingness to burst that bubble. Good call. There’s magic out there, for sure. Nice job with the prompt.
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It was partly on purpose, and partly because every time a computer or iPad came out, all the little ones (there were 4 under 4) suddenly clamored to play. 🙂
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Love your sentence.
Not just a complete story in just a few words, but a great emotional one at that!
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Thank you! I could have written more, but it would have boiled down pretty much to these 33 words.
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Oh, this is wonderful. Just wonderful.
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Thank you! It was a short entry, but it flowed right out.
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I love how “the crickets were chirping his name.”
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I love all of this… very much, but this line speaks volumes: “I found the heart of my heart in his smile.”
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And it’s even true… Something about your own child’s smile cuts right through to the – ahem – heart of things.
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Aww so sweet. I know the feeling about leaving the outside world outside and enjoying where you are.
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Thanks, Jeanna! I don’t often write about my family, but in this case, that’s what was on my mind. 🙂
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