There’s a tin sign perched over a door frame in my family room. It reads “Home — Where your story begins.” I’m heading home, in a sense, though I’ll be a stranger in my homeland.
We are about to embark on an epic journey. Unlike kids these days, I don’t use the word epic lightly. We are headed to India soon, country of my birth. It will be my family’s first time there and my first return in twenty years. I’ve been there as a baby, a child, a teenager, and a 20-something. Now I’m going back as a grown woman, a mother, a citizen activist with a surety foreign to me until recently. I’m grappling with it all, still unable to articulate what’s churning inside me.
Mostly I’m contemplating the paradox of being a stranger in my own land. I’ve lived in the United States for 45 years, yet still wear a mantle of strangerness here. Everyday I am the answer to the childhood game of One of These Things Is Not Like the Other. In this country I act the part but don’t look it. In India I look the part but don’t act it. It’s complicated, and I’m trying to wrap my head around what these experiences will hold and how my paradigm will change. It’s a journey, literally and figuratively.
I’m tackling it all through writing, as I am wont to do.
This time I’m engaging my family, too. We’ve committed to writing every day of our trip, and we are all outfitted with a travel journal of our choosing. Mine is a wide ruled school notebook adorned in washi tape. Yes, old school pen and paper over here! I’m working on writing prompts so we don’t resort to drivel everyday. By the end of this journey all of our collective words will be rich, adding depth to our experience.
Here are some writing prompts I’m considering. I’d love some crowdsourced help here so chime in.
What surprised you?
Which emotion best describes how you felt at the end of the day and why?
What did you learn today?
Describe a new food you tried.
Close your eyes and think of what sounds you heard today. Tell me about them.
What put a smile on your face?
What will you go to bed thinking about from your day?
What made you go “ewwwww?’
What inspired you today?
Tell me about someone you met.
What did you do today that you want to do again? Why?
Describe in detail one thing you saw today.
What made you laugh out loud?
Draw a memory of the day.
List five adjectives or phrases to describe your experience.
What made you feel gratitude?
Compare your day to a typical day at home.
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten?
What surprised you on this trip?
How will this trip affect your outlook at home?
Now help me out, folks. I need more writing prompts to cover all the days we are gone. What would you ask? What would you record? What do you want to know?
[…] We are heading to India shortly. It is my first time back in 20 years, and my husband and sons’ first trip there. Among the four of us we got 16 shots, malaria medication, prescription medicine, and a slew of insect repellent, and sunblock. Needless to say, it cost a fortune. The bill hurt more than the shots. It was yet another reminder to be grateful to have the wherewithal to enjoy this experience as a family. Our arms ached, and we were all a tish crabby, but it was nothing that Mall Cop and a milkshake couldn’t fix. We were thankful to have the access and ability to get vaccinations for this trip. We would be endangering ourselves and others had we not been immunized against many deadly diseases that are indeed vaccine preventable. What a wondrous world this is. […]