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101 Word Short Stories

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Wedding Photos

August 21, 2024 20 Comments

By Kip Knott

Your father, wearing the battered Timex he found in the tall grass along the freeway.

Your mother, wearing black pants to hide the varicose veins she always blamed you for.

My mother, wearing the gaudy diamond ring of the new husband she told to stay home.

You, in the ivory dress you bought at Goodwill and let out to make room for your swelling belly.

Me, wearing my father’s hand-me-down black suit, the same one he wore two years before at the funeral for our premature daughter who arrived and departed before we ever had the chance to say “I do.”

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David says

    August 21, 2024 at 3:45 am

    Wonderful in so many ways. Each sentence is like a brush stroke, building to the unveiling of the completed picture.

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 21, 2024 at 6:40 am

      Thank you! That’s exactly what I was trying to do!

      Reply
  2. Mary Anne Gorman says

    August 21, 2024 at 8:03 am

    You captured a lifetime of generations describing it through showing and not telling. You have a gift. You should write your memoirs

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 21, 2024 at 9:18 am

      Thank you! I don’t know if I can afford the therapy I’d need to write my memoirs.

      Reply
      • Mary says

        August 21, 2024 at 10:52 am

        I understand but now some of those memories that I had have been turned into great stories. You are a gifted writer

        Reply
        • Kip says

          August 21, 2024 at 11:09 am

          Thank you so much!

          Reply
  3. Deborah Sale-Butler says

    August 21, 2024 at 9:31 am

    Elegantly layered story.

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 21, 2024 at 10:02 am

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  4. Cathryn says

    August 21, 2024 at 9:32 am

    Hello Kip,
    Awesome ! Reminds me of a poem by Natasha Trethewy titled “How the Past Comes Back”.

    Reply
  5. Kip says

    August 21, 2024 at 10:03 am

    Thank you! I love that poem by Trethewey.

    Reply
  6. Michelle Mellon says

    August 21, 2024 at 10:15 am

    Love the portrait you’ve given us here!

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 21, 2024 at 11:09 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Ramona Taylor says

    August 21, 2024 at 7:57 pm

    I loved the way you used photos as the vehicle for your story. Well done ?

    Reply
    • Ramona Taylor says

      August 21, 2024 at 7:58 pm

      Sorry, that was supposed to be an !

      Reply
    • Kip says

      August 21, 2024 at 8:01 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Charlotte Bennardo says

    August 22, 2024 at 12:23 am

    so much said-and unsaid.

    Reply
  9. Ed Kratz says

    August 22, 2024 at 1:16 pm

    A great panorama of life. Very well done.

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 22, 2024 at 10:14 pm

      Thank you very much!

      Reply
  10. Elizabeth Jane Hilton says

    August 24, 2024 at 3:51 am

    I love this. I feel this.

    Reply
    • Kip says

      August 24, 2024 at 5:38 pm

      Thank you! I really appreciate it!

      Reply

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