Quotes from The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.

“You don’t grow up missing what you never had, but throughout life there is hovering over you an inescapable longing for something you never had.”  — Susan Sontag

“As a child, you generally aren’t aware that your family is different from any other. You have no frame of reference.”   — Anderson Cooper

Writing Prompts:

Can you miss what you don’t know?

Can you miss what you didn’t have?

What, or who, do you miss?

Write about an inescapable longing.

Imagine you, or your fictional character, are six years old.

It’s time to sit on Santa’s lap. What happens?

Or, what doesn’t happen?

Back in the day we called the December-January school break: Christmas Break.

We called Columbus Day: Columbus Day.

We didn’t care about calories, especially on Thanksgiving and for holiday meals.

We played outside with kids in our neighborhood.

We “scrolled” through comic books.

We danced to music from jukeboxes.

Writing Prompt: Back in the day.

What do you need?

Right now. What do you need?

Other prompts relating to need:

What do you need to hear? Lin Manuel Miranda pondered this question and the result is surprising.

Want vs need. Discovering wants versus needs.

I will always have . . .

What can you control?

What can you let go of?

If you could invite anyone to share a meal with, dead or alive, who would you invite and why?

If you, or your fictional character, could learn a foreign language, what would it be and why?

Or: Write about your experience with learning another language.

What is the one thing that makes you smile every time you think about it or him/her/them?

Every time you remember this, you smile.

Every time.