Outside my window there's a little girl laughing with her grandma in the yard next door. There's the splash of water from the wading pool, and shouts of, “Watch me!” soon followed by more serious questions, like, “What kind of flower is that?” and “Why do you have a mirror in the backyard?” The latter is something I've wondered about too, so I listen closely for the answer but grandma just laughs and offers a juice box and cookie distraction. It is quiet for a moment, then a dog barks twice, a bird chirps in a nearby tree, and I am carried down a road of memory where my daughters are laughing in the yard, playing with my father while my mother offers them ice cream or gummy bears. They run for the treats; one takes ice cream, the other wants gummies. The sun is shining and the grass smells sweet. Further down Memory Lane I am sitting with my own grandmother. There is no sunshine or grass. There is no laughter because grandma had been sick for as long as I could remember. But that didn't matter because we were happy together. My grandmother's gnarled fingers knitted me a princess's cape and sewed clothes for my Beloved Barbie dolls from scraps of old cloth. We played school together; it was glorious, serious business because I got to be the teacher and grandma was careful to get a few wrong answers so I wouldn't always have to give her 100%. A car rolls down the street; its thumping bass rattles the windows. The little girl and her grandma are quiet; I think they must have gone inside because that little bundle of energy couldn't stay quiet so long. The dog barks again. As if by a hypnotist's cue, I walk down Memory Lane again, looking for the laughter.
~Elise Skidmore ©2020

This touches my heart — and wakes my own memories — beautiful!
Thank you so much. I like to think the best poetry does that.
I bet I was the ice cream
You were, indeed. Thanks for reading this one!