31 Comments
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Sharon the Lion-Hearted's avatar

What a family history to start my day, thank you Sharron. Love that a daughter is carrying on the legacy.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thank you, Sharon. It is an odd piece. Not sure where it came from...

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Thomas D’Arcy O’Donnell's avatar

.. whoa there ! 🦎🏴‍☠️

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks for the repost, Tinder. That is a great vote of confidence. I appreciate it.

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Kate Henry's avatar

Mortality. Enjoy the part you get. New driver's license picture shows the depth of denial.

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Wade Terry's avatar

I love the piercing reflection of life and history….. and her homage to it.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thank you, neighbor. It was an interesting photo to work with. I would like to live in that empty room.

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Jim Cummings's avatar

What a beautiful and poignant story --made even better by your elegant reading. I have wanted to try an audio. Were you able to read it through in one take?

Really, Sharron, this is a marvelous piece. Thank you.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I got it in two takes. The process was easy... after I figured out that the little buttons must be pushed to start and to finish.... Then I listened to it this morning online. I got shy and deleted it...

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Jim Cummings's avatar

You deleted it? Well I’m glad I got to hear it before you did!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

It was fun and I will try it again sometime. It just sounded a little pretentious, the morning after. Not sure why. That being said, I would LOVE to hear your voice. Not that your stories need it, but just to hear your voice.

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Jim Cummings's avatar

I hope you do it again soon. I will give it a try myself sometime.

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Janice Walton's avatar

What a wonderful approach. . .and very fitting for me. I spent the weekend with four generations of my family: me - our daughter, her sons, and my great-granddaughter. I am rather awe struck with that reality.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

That sounds so lovely, Janice. I hope you have photos of that four generation occasion.

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Janice Walton's avatar

We do and it was. I would not have thought that would be important to me and that this great granddaughter would be as well. But it is. I wish Dan could have met her - he would have been enchanted.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

This cut through the nonsense we think is important and shows what really is.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Ah, Mark, as one ages, one realizes that in the end, family is everything.

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Linda Brown's avatar

Well, that was certainly some bed! Our bed is not THAT old, but we were given the frame 46 years ago during our first year of marriage. Our 2nd daughter's teeth marks are still at the bottom wooden slat. This is because we had her sleeping at the foot of our bed in a small folding bed for 8 months. At about 6 months she learned to pull herself up, and then she'd stand there grinding her new tiny teeth on the edge of the frame while she stared at us until we awoke. .... I treasure those memories of awaking to her shiny sweet face at our feet, and I still enjoy seeing those little teeth marks on the frame - even though our "baby" is now 43!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Love this story. Please write more about it for our writing group!

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Yael Gelardin's avatar

Lovely piece. Thanks 🙏

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thank you, Yael, for reading my story. It was a little unusual - sometimes I am not sure where these ideas come from, but it was a lovely photo to work with. I would like to live in a sparsely furnished house like that

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Meg Oolders's avatar

Wow. This one may top my list of Sharron Bassano favorites.

So powerful. Thank you!!!!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Oh! Thanks, Meg. I wasn't sure about this one. It is not my usual voice. I felt like I was channeling my Norse ancestors... I am so glad it spoke to someone. Thank you for the re-stack vote of confidence. It means everything to me.

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Meg Oolders's avatar

💜

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Ika Wright's avatar

Wow, indeed. This is a nicely written piece centered on something as mundane as a bed and it's long history. As a side note: I've got to appreciate how durable that bed is. Great work, by the way

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thank you, Ika, for sailing over to this little island in the great Substack sea. I am glad you found something you like here at Leaves!

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Sharon Hudson's avatar

Beautiful story, Sharron. I thought about the picture of my Husband’s grandmother, taken when she was just about 19 years old. It hangs over our bed, in the cabin she lived in, back in the 1940’s to the 1960’s. Many people, family members and friends, have slept in this little bedroom over the years. I feel such a sense of belonging, as I lay here. ❤️

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Justin Deming's avatar

I love this story, Sharron. It’s epic in scope, and I think it’s brilliant that it spans generations. It reminds me of a book I read a long time ago called We, the Drowned. It was written by a Danish author named Carsten Jensen. The novel is really more of an epic that focuses on a coastal town, and how the town and its people evolve over the course of time.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I will seek it out!

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Linda Cardillo's avatar

Beautiful sentiment. Our ancestors. Birth,life and death.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks so much Linda, for rooting round down in the Leaves Archive . So few readers ever do. I bring a favorite piece or two back up every week and repost them for my lovely new subscribers. I am glad you liked my bed story!

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