Memoirs

Shortly before I left for the west coast in January I received a wonderful surprise in the mail. My aunt had sent me her memoirs.

I've often thought it might be interesting, or fun even, to write my memoirs. Hers have inspired me.

It's a wonderful story full of little pieces of family history I had never known, or more likely, had forgotten. Much of it was probably discussed at family gatherings back when I was much younger and less interested. My aunt is the oldest of four siblings, and she is the only one surviving--in fine form I should add. She travels the world, paints, walks, and pays regular visits to elderly shut-ins within her church and neighborhood. She is Dear-ol'-Dad's older sister.

One of my favorite tidbits is how my father, as a small child sitting on his father's lap, was fascinated by the reflections he could see in my grandfather's glasses. Maybe the reason this struck me so is that I remember playing Double Solitaire with my dad when I was a child and how I could often see the cards he was holding in the reflection of his glasses.

The only thing that puts me off about writing my memoirs is the size of the undertaking. There's been lots of water under the bridge and not all of it was the crystal clear kind you see around tropical islands. Some of it was sort of murky. Do I dare dirty up the clear water with debris from the river bottom? It's a bit of a dilemma.

I did read a book once about memoir writing. The author suggested a good way to make this seemingly daunting task less daunting. He said to pick an incident or memory from your life and write a page about it. Then put that page in a folder marked Memoirs--or Important Information from the IRS, if you don't want anyone peeking. Continue to do this, one page at a time, until you have a fairly good-sized collection. When you think you're done, put the pages in order according to your life's timeline.

This sounds pretty easy. Not too daunting either. I hate things that are daunting. That's why I'm thinking of starting my memoirs pretty soon so I can procrastinate a little longer about the daunting housework....