That First To Us Place

In Ethical ELA today, we are encouraged to write for two minutes about a memory.

It's a long-ag-happy memory even if it was a basement apartment! 

Most people went up the stairs

Sunlight fueled their journeys.

We went below ground into a dark basement,
Where coin-operated washers hummed into the night

Where we never saw the sun rise or set,

Where we slept on the floor,

Yet, we learned to work together

Cooking, cleaning, loving,

In that first-to-us-place.