This Bronx Girl - Present Day

"Thank you for this lunch, in Jesus' name. Amen!" Rhys, my 3 year old says quickly and loudly.

"Good, eat up!" I say as I grab a small bowl of cheerios and put it in front of the 11 month old who is sitting in his baby seat. I sit down in front of the computer and take a sip of the coffee that I bought this morning from a coffee drive-thru on the way back home. I put it on the desk and click on the mouse. The pages from my novel appear on the screen and I begin reading through them, correcting grammatical errors, rearranging sentences. I look to the hard copy that is my novel which is sitting on the desk beside the keyboard, then back to the screen with a laser like focus, working to block out the sounds from The Sid the Science Kid t.v. show that my son is watching.

I take a sip of coffee from time to time. Really good - my white chocolate mocha with a pump of raspberry.

A high-pitched scream fills the air. I turn around and see the bowl, empty of cheerios turned over on the floor. I get up quickly and grab the bowl, filling it with cheerios again. I put it back in front of the screaming baby and sit back down in front of the computer again. A couple of minutes later, I click "Save" on the screen and breathe a sigh. I click on the next open document. A list of the names of parents who ordered magazine subscriptions through the boys' school. I was in charge of organizing this project.

"Mommy, more milk please." That is Rhys. Several minutes later, after giving the second cup of milk to my boy along with another helping of cheese crackers, I close up the school document and click on the remaining document that is open on the computer screen. After a quick read-through and some copying and pasting the document into an email, I send it - these book reviews - to my magazine editor. Finally, those are done.

I glance at the clock on the computer and turned toward Rhys who now sits on the floor playing with his tanker truck.

"Time to go buddy," I say to him. "We have to pick up your brother."

"Nooo," he wails.

"Yes," I say and sigh. The battle begins as I watch the baby toss his blue bowl across the room. There is fifteen minutes of chasing the 3 year old, putting on his socks, shoes and jacket, grabbing the baby, changing his diaper, giving him snuggles and then placing him in his brown car seat, me looking for my shoes, looking for the car keys, which always seem to disappear, and once finding them, sighing, grabbing the diaper bag, then opening the front door and bringing both boys outside to the car.

Now I'm driving along rural roads, past the cows in the open field on the left, and the farmer's market on the right with a sign attached to a fence, stating that they sell organic tomatoes. I make that right turn at Baseline Rd. and drive along towards my son's school and the Rocky Mountain range in the West, noticing the snow-covered peaks and reveling in their majesty.

This prompt is inspired by a memoir prompt from The Red Dress Club which asks "when meeting someone for the first time, what do you want them to know about you? Describe a scene that shows your true self."

Critiques welcomed.