Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Today’s Bloganuary writing prompt is:

If you could, what year would you time travel to and why?

Have you thought about time traveling? I’m not ashamed to admit I’d travel to the Victorian Era.

If I knew the precise year I needed, I’d tell you. You see, I have a chalk drawing of my grandmother at eighteen. I believe it’s a chalk drawing. Before I was old enough to know any better, I destroyed a small area of the background by rubbing at it.

The photograph is in horrid condition now, but I can’t part with it. The drawing is in full color with a slate colored muted background. The size of the drawing is around 16×20. I don’t know what the material is, but it crumbles and breaks after all these years. Let me tell you the story my grandmother told me about how the painting came to be, and why I’d like to travel back to ride the train with her.

She traveled a lot as a young girl. One day while getting off the train at a station, an artist thought she was so beautiful that he asked if he could draw her. She grew up in Brookfield, Missouri, so the portrait could have been done in St. Louis. We’ll never know. I’d love to go back in time to ride the train with her and witness this event. Her hair is auburn in the drawing and styled similar to Jane Seymour’s hair on the cover of my Somewhere in Time CD.

In the drawing, she wore a pink dress with a high neck. If I remember correctly, she wore a cameo broach. Could the cameo broach she had in her jewelry box when I was a child be the same one? A hat sat more toward the back of her head. She’s posed facing forward, but she wasn’t gazing at the artist.

What do you think, readers and friends? Is there a year, an era, or event you’d like to experience? Let us know in the comments. Until the next time, stay well and be safe.

Train track credit: Image by Peter Mayer from Pixabay