I thought, mistakenly, that when I was assigned the word “melt” I’d finally hit the Word Prompt jackpot. Unlike some prior words, (I’m looking at you, “waxy”), “melt” would be simple, requiring zero Googling or wild stretches of the imagination. But about a week later when my “melt” Google doc remained blank and silent, I realized that my word was actually too good. Although theoretically I had many options, all of them fell flat when I tried to write them down.
As the deadline approached, I began to get a little nervous. Should I wax poetic about the gloriousness of melted cheese, and call it a day? Should I write about recently suffering through a terrible case of Covid and being unable to eat anything except for soft melty foods? Or maybe, despite the cliché, I should write about something topical, like watching the Chanukah candles melt into a rainbow of colored wax. (Please note my current ability to use the word wax multiple times.)
While I was trying to coax my cursor into describing the double crust stuffed everything spice pizza that has become my newest obsession, I witnessed my daughter scooping up her toddler and cocooning him in a blanket like a burrito. Although he doesn’t usually stay still for too long, he allowed her to rock him a little, as if he were a tiny infant. At the sight of this sweet tableau, my heart melted into a gooey puddle, much like the mozzarella on my favorite stuffed crust pizza.
