This year WYSO and Tecumseh Land Trust sponsored Living on the Land, an essay contest inviting writers of all ages to reflect on what home and land mean to them. L. Morgan Germann won honorable mention in the middle school category.
I had my eyes closed but somehow, everything seemed to be in sharper focus. I could smell the smoke on the wind from the fire my family was having on the back patio. Underneath the smell of the smoke, I could also smell a much sweeter and gentler scent than that, the smell of the flowers my family had in the yard in full bloom. I remember the crickets sang a song that was like nothing I had ever heard before. I opened my eyes and lifted them towards the fabulous night sky. I could see the stars, millions of them, helping the brightest moon I had ever seen illuminate the dark world.
“Morgan!” my grandma shouted, violently ripping me out of my daze.
“Grandma,” I sighed, seeing her coming around the corner of my house. “Could you please try to be quieter?”
“Sorry!” she said in a loud whisper. “Your mama just wanted me to come tell you that it’s getting late and to come inside.”
“Sit here,” I said patting a spot beside me on the grass.
“I can’t sit on the ground, it’ll break my bones,” Grandma complained.
“Okay,” I replied. “How about sitting on that chair,” I motioned to a chair a few feet behind me.
She sat down without speaking. “Oh wow,” she gasped, looking at the view of the sky. And there we sat, Grandma and I, gazing up at the beautiful night sky, until my mama yelled at us to come inside.
