Ding, ding, ding tolls the bells

I recently joined a writing group, which is really encouraging my more creative writing side. Our recent prompt was to write about a sound that reminded you that you were at home. I immediately knew what that sound was for me. Coincidentally, this was right as my siblings and I are observing 8 years as “orphans.” There is no word for those of us whose parents have passed on. I thought of them so much as I wrote this.

Ding, ding, ding: The sound of home

Sylvia Perez

Ding, ding, ding…tolls the bells of the courthouse clock tower in my

hometown of Monticello Florida.

Ding, ding, ding at 3 a.m.

as I lay restless in my bed

as a teen hoping for my dreams to come true

At 6 a.m. telling me it was time to get up for school

At 7 a.m. letting me know it was time to start off for school.

at noon in the summer to remind me it was time to go in to eat lunch.

At 4 p.m. alerting me that Dad was getting off work soon and would be home.

At 9 p.m. saying it’s time to go to bed.

The sound of the clock from our local courthouse was a constant sound while growing up.

It was comfort when I returned home for visits for many years.

And, then my parents moved out of the downtown area

And the sound of the clock was gone.

Until I bought a house in the downtown area after living away for many years

Now, the sound of the ding, ding, ding reminds me of my parents

And growing up to the sound.

On nights when I cannot sleep,

I hear the ding, ding, ding

Telling me it is 3 a.m. and I am still wide awake.

But more often,

As I welcome the dawn

on my back deck,

I hear the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding

Reminding me of my parents and childhood,

And that the sound of ding

Is the sound of home.