Real Simple Contest

One of my favorite magazines, Real Simple announced a writing contest a few months back. The deadline to enter an essay is September 5^th I think. The topic? What was the most important day or your life? “ Oh, is that all?” you say. It sounds easy enough. No matter who you are, we’ve all experienced those life altering days and moments. So, what is the problem?

“Queue the big fat problem please!” (Big glaring problem lumbers center stage for spotlight performance)

How do I decide what was “the most “important day of my life?

Here is how Real Simple describes the contest:

Perhaps it was the day of your high school graduation. The day you started your dream job — or left a nightmare workplace. Maybe it was a day noted for its poignancy or one that was downright hilarious. Whatever your memory of the most important day of your life is, share it.

Now, of course those days are hugely important, my first kiss, my first heartbreaking break-up, the day I knew my husband would propose, the day I saw those two little pink lines on the pregnancy test, that day in China, not even a year ago, when we met our son for the first time, they have all changed me in profound ways. How do you choose one that is the biggest, the best and therefore the most influential?

As difficult as that has proved to be, I think I have an idea of my specific moment, which by the way, is not any I listed above. This leaves me to wrestle with the process of attempting to accurately portray that moment in my life. I keep asking myself, “Why does this story matter to anyone else.”

I believe so strongly in the significance of our personal stories. I am constantly asking other people dozens of questions, my curiosity about their lives and hidden daydreams a constant motivator to know just a little more. Selfishly, the dreams, hopes and funny stories of others never cease to inspire me. They serve as a touchstone connecting me with another person and their life experience. So often we discount what we have experienced as not very significant. Which is why I am excited about this particular contest, it asks readers to look and those moments and validates their worth.

My goal in this endeavor is to just submit something. I would love to get something published somewhere. I hope my essay will connect with someone, even if it is just the lowly intern at Real Simple who is stuck screening hundreds of entries. So I guess I better get to work!