The 5 o’clock sun filters through the trees, casting warm shadows on the playground. I’m a bit upset about the excessively trimmed branches, but the March afternoon colors ground me. You toddle ahead, rescuing sticks along the way, your eyes busy with sudden discovery—how quickly your attention shifts to the twins (tomorrow’s slice?) running by you.
You stop, wave, and notice how one of them is climbing the structure designed to challenge him. Your gaze follows his movements as if wondering what it would feel like to be up there, too.
We exchange a quick look and join the fun. For some reason, when you and I visit the playground, you demand my company, so I climb, step, and slide, too.
“Mama, come!” A familiar request, but there’s something in it today that feels different. Maybe the twin’s drive has stirred something in you. You said come, not up.
You reach the tree-stump steps, gripping the surface with those chubby hands. I stay close, ready if you need me, but determination is the soundtrack of this moment. The platform above waits like a castle, the slides twisting down like secret escape routes.
“Elena do it,” you whisper to yourself. My lungs take it all in. You don’t look back, wondering why I’m still on the ground while you stretch the distance between us. My lungs hold it all in.
Silent, I follow you along the curvy path. You take each step joyfully, running your hands along the yellow bars, feeling every bump as you approach the slide. As if you’ve done this a thousand times, you barely sit before sliding down, your fine curls standing on end, electrified, glowing golden in the sun’s mist.
Filtered through this moment, I see glimpses of many others. You’ll learn to drive, travel alone, sit down for job interviews, move into your first home, through break-ups, disappointments, and rejections—things I’ve faced and survived. As I imagine the same scenarios for you, I feel for my mom. Did her pride and worry wage battle on a distant field as I became my own person?
Am I overthinking this simple “Elena goes down the slide on her own” moment?
“Wheee!” Giggles and toddler monologues echo through the warm shadows, mingling with the forgotten sticks and scattered leaves. In this little kingdom of slides and bravery, you’re not quite fearless but confident enough to inch away from me.
Thinking of my KLA Slicers, who sat beside me as I wrote the first draft of this post.
Start with a Story 
Thank you, partner!!
We need to do that thing you mentioned of listing craft moves and add them to the Google doc!
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Thank you so much, Kim! Some of the other slicers I work with needed a bit of motivation so Amy and I invited them for a quick chat on getting ideas and playing with words. For me it’s about experimenting with verbs and random descriptions. Ralph Fletcher taught me some of that! ♥️
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Thank you, Jodi!
I doubted that line for a few minutes, and I’m glad it worked out.
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That new perspective is so, so powerful. I didn’t think I could love my mom more.
Thank you!
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Thanks, Molly!
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Yay, the toddler era has begun! Haha
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I appreciate this so much, Beth!
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Such a visual slice! My favorite lines:
“Wheee!” Giggles and toddler monologues echo through the warm shadows, mingling with the forgotten sticks and scattered leaves. In this little kingdom of slides and bravery
The time flies. I remember the playground, the slide, the fallen leaves…today my son is married and contemplating children of his own. You are not overthinking it. Instead, you are savoring the moment, zooming in so you can file the moment away. Don’t foget to show Elena this post some day.
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You capture all that goes on in a parents’ mind as we watch our children navigate the world…”but determination is the soundtrack of this moment.” I loved this line. It paints such a picture of Elena in this moment.
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Wow! I read this slice this morning and didn’t have time to comment, but made sure to come back to do so. This is such a beautifully structured piece with so much heart. Your carefully chosen details put the reader right in the moment, but your narration also deftly recognizes the layers within it. “Filtered through this moment, I see glimpses of many others.” I love that you’re recognizing these moments as you live them. That’s such a gift–as this slice will be to Elena later in life.
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De “crafts” y “moves” no se nada, pero que lindooo!!
“your fine curls standing on end, electrified, glowing golden in the sun’s mist” esos rulos los conozco!!! Vivan los curls!!
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You’ve taken a small moment and attched such big meaning to it and that makes this a powerful piece. My favorite line – As I imagine the same scenarios for you, I feel for my mom. Did her pride and worry wage battle on a distant field as I became my own person? I know for me, it was when I became a mom that I understood the complexity of the role.
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This is so beautifully detailed. I felt like I was right there with you in that moment. My favorite line was, “but determination is the soundtrack of this moment.” The flash-forward to other moments was sweet.
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This is such a powerful slice. I don’t know what mini lesson on craft you took yesterday, but I need that mini lesson in my life if it will help me write like your slice today. The capturing of the breath – “my lungs take it in…..my lungs hold it in…” and the kingdom of the playground in an independent slide that is a foreshadowing of all you will see in your own daughter and all your mother saw in you is just absolutely precious – – it is hopeful even in all the uncertainty of life. She made it to the bottom of the slide this time…..and she can do it again and again all through her life. Applause.
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After yesterday’s minilesson about craft, I’m more aware of all the moves you’re making as a writer in this slice. The descriptive language setting the scene and painting the picture in our minds for us; the zoom in and zoom out of this moment and what it means for Elena and you, now and in the the future; how it connects to Gi’s slice about walking Oscar and how trust strengthens as you test the distance you can go, while always coming back.
So proud of Elena! A milestone!
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