When I think about the very first story I ever wrote, it brings me back to when I was in the fourth grade. Yes, that's right—it was the fourth grade. I even remember my teacher because she was one of my all-time favorite teachers. Her name was Mrs. Ricci. She was tall, slender, and had auburn hair that she always wore high up on her head in a beehive. She wore cat-eye black-rimmed glasses that hung around her neck on a chain when they weren't framing her eyes, and she always left behind the fragrance of the sweetest-smelling perfume as she passed by.

She began teaching us the joys of creative writing that year. For the class assignment, we were to write a story about what it would be like to be an inanimate object of our own choosing. I imagined myself to be the kitchen sink. I can still remember writing about what it would feel like to be all clogged up or to have someone pour grease down my throat. I remember how much fun I had writing that story, the joy I felt in the creative flow of the words, and how I even loved editing the story. It was at this point that I fell in love with writing.

I kept a journal throughout the years, but I never considered the possibility of writing as anything more than just a past time. As is the case with so many people, the events of my life interfered with my writing, and I began to write less and less.

After I became disabled from working due to my medical problems, I felt I needed to do something—anything—to keep from going insane due to the boredom of having absolutely nothing to do all day and from being isolated from the world. My husband said to me, "Cindy, why don't you write a book? You used to write all the time. You should do something like that." So I did take his advice, and I'm working on that book. I also thought that there may be some writing groups online that I could join. And guess what I found? Yes, you guessed it—Writing.Com. I bless the day that I found Writing.Com. It has been my salvation.

The first story that I wrote when I joined Writing.Com is the story that I present to you below. I hope that you enjoy it. I've written much more since then. I write in the genres of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, song lyrics, and blogs. I've really branched out. But the best part of Writing.Com are the friends that I've made, and they are the true treasures that I've found. And that's worth even more than the writing.

STATIC

ID: 1666394   (Rated: E) In My Father's Arms  A true story of a young girl going through the tragedy of her father's death by blainecindy-I♥theCircle