Just before her husband was given orders for his second deployment, she moved into a rental in Slidell, Louisiana. Unbeknownst to her, this was the biggest house she would ever rent. It was a four bedroom. And this was before children and the addition of more pets, before her husband left the Army and searched for a civilian job, two years before Katrina would come ashore and devastate New Orleans.
They’d finally moved out of base housing and she was thrilled to have a real, actual neighborhood, with cute picket fences and thick paved sidewalks, where she could walk her small dog. Back then the dog was young and loved to run. This was before the dog ate too much and incurred joint problems and preferred to lounge belly up on the sofa. The couple was thrilled to be out of the desert and next to some water – Lake Pontchartain was only blocks away.
Little did they know when they signed the year lease that it would only be three months they would actually fulfill. “He was just deployed six months ago,” she had explained to the realtor. “We should be here a while.” But God had a habit of laughing at her plans. Yet, through each twist and turn of life, she would always remember that first neighborhood that sparked so many dreams. And maybe it was living so close to the water, that she learned it’s way. She learned to move with grace.
Dewdrops dream and stream
down cherry blossoms, searching –
the way comes softly.
This haibun is my response to Happy New Year! This prompt from Lillian at dVerse ~ Poets Pub is to write a traditional haibun about a new beginning we’ve experienced in our lifetime.
Tricia Sankey 
A gentle write of intricacies of life💙
Thanks for reading! I think I like writing haibuns now, they are cool! 😎
I am very moved by this, Tricia. Thank you.
-David
Thanks, David! 💖
Very nicely done! Your nomadic life always had ties back to that first house by the lake! An excellent Haiku!
Thanks! 💖 Yes, it was a short new beginning there, but rather symbolic of my life of moving. It reminds me to never think I know what will be next. Haha!
That is true for all of us!
Heart warming haibun, Tricia!
Thanks for your comment! 💖
I could very well relate with my transferable job and leased houses. Thanks, Tricia for sharing this haibun!!
I’m happy it resonated with you, thanks for reading! 💖
It must be very hard to be always moving on as a military spouse. I hope you found somewhere to settle in the end! The hardest home for me to leave was the one where my second son took his first steps. It was such a beautiful place. But it was not mine!
Yes, we are living closer to my family now, except my twin sister, who lives three hours away. Should be here a long time. It is nice now that my son is a teenager to stay in one place. I too, have memories in different states that wrap around how old my son was at the time and what we were doing with him at that age. 💕
I wasn’t certain at first that “she” was you, but a lovely story and haiku.
Yes, I pulled some paragraphs from a creative non-fiction piece I wrote a long time ago with a pretend name but about myself. So I just inserted her and she. I think it would work better with names but I wanted to keep it 3rd person. Thanks for reading! 💖
This is an absolutely beautiful write….a memoir haibun. I just went on the journey with you….your writing brings in the reader so very well. It was like sharing an intimate discussion with you. The haiku is equally as stunning. Writing in the third person provides some distance for the writer I’m sure…but for me as the reader, it drew me in even more. Just lovely.
I’m so happy you felt connected with the piece and yes, I think I like the distance of writing in 3rd person when looking back over my life, as an observer. Thanks for the prompt that inspired it! 💖
A very interesting and thoughtful recount. I, too, like the 3rd person approach. Well written.,
Thanks for your comment! 💖
Those plans we make, knowing outside forces may easily have their way… your haiku states that so well.
Thanks, Ken! Yes, we can only plan so much in life! 💖
You capture the dream-like quality and joy of that interrupted paradise so beautifully, Tricia. I like your use of POV in this regard. Well done, my friend. 🙂
Thanks so much, Dora! I appreciate the comment! 🥰
I am very moved by this… knowing that place is maybe also an anchor of what you might want to have in the next place… Living close to water is a real blessing and it helps me a lot to have somewhere to walk…
Yes, I really enjoyed New Orleans. I lived in two different locations there. A great town. Thanks for reading!
So lovely to read. I enjoyed the way you used “This was before…..” to give us glimpses of different time periods. Stunning haiku!
Thanks so much! 💖
Sounds like it was fun while it lasted. Hard not to use it as a yardstick for the dwellings that followed. You have nailed the haibun form, Tricia!
Yes, ended up in Belle Chasse at the Naval Air Station two years later during Katrina, but luckily got out of there while pregnant! Another story for another time. Still miss New Orleans!