Aurora Magazine 2018

Carpe Diem, Creare Diem

E L I Z A B E T H B O Y E R

Sitting on the playground with a bag full of chalk, I am washed over with a feeling of sadness as several children come to play with me. Shrieks of laughter that border on the sounds of violence pour into my ears. Brothers and sisters call to each other in their pretend games and chases. Someone’s child asks me about my drawing and points out theirs. Parents, all over the park, are buried in their phones, laptops, or projects of some kind. Here I am laughing, not only with my own chil- dren, but with their children and creating these memories that many of them will remember for weeks to come. I realize the world has become so fast paced and goal oriented that parents can’t even take time at a park to remember the drawing their child has done on the sidewalk. Why is memory making not a priority anymore? In a world were speed is key, why do I care? The simple answer to why I care is my parents taught me to. It was never a talk, or an explanation. Just points in time that, though small, became precious to me. It was the greatest way to learn that lesson. There were many times that lesson was made to me, but only one that is ingrained into my soul. It was a little after ten at night on February 18, 2001. I had been in bed since before nine and had run out of day dreams to dream. The orange light from the dusk-to-dawn

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