How does a reader anticipate a character’s needs and wishes?  Is it the portrayal of a major life event, such as a bride walking down the aisle, or is it the little moments that tell us what is really going on? The big events are the panorama pictures, and they provide a frame for us to look at. But the intimate moments, the close-ups of our lives are how we really understand each other.   We remember each other through our senses.  It may be the way they looked, or what they wore, but often it is something smaller. Actions tell us a lot, even simple ones. Readers snoop around in the lives of their characters. Writers need to examine the details.  What makes this moment important?

Small scenes come up in my mind movies. 

After 71 years of marriage, Grandad had died. Grandmother was composed and gracious, even though her house was full of people. The multitudes had descended on her lovely Michigan home.  The  morning of the funeral, she was sitting out in the sun, with her long white hair drying in a soft spring breeze. I had stepped outside under the grape arbor. “Connie, would you mind doing my hair for me today?” It was so simple. She had been pinning up her long hair daily for more than 80 years. I picked up the hairbrush and began to brush through her soft hair, gave her a little shoulder rub, and then picked up the first pins. A few moments later the French rolls were  positioned.

Our long day was under way.