I did
it!
Well, I
somewhat did it. At least I made a
start!
I
compiled family stories for my grandsons in time for Christmas. WoooHoooo!
You
might recall that for a couple of years my oldest grandson, Chase, has been asking me to do so.
Last
September when Chase asked again, I knew the time had come, as if God nudged
me, “You’ve gotta do this, Linda, as
an inheritance. Leave this legacy for your family. Do it. Do it now.”
Since
then I’ve been working on God-and-us stories
for Chase and his two brothers, Finn and Kade—not because our family is so great, but because God is so great.
I sent
the boys a collection of random stories, mostly my own but also a few my mother
told—since she’s still alive and the boys know her.
Mom’s
stories are about growing up in eastern Ontario, Canada, during the Great
Depression, about winter travels in a horse-drawn open sleigh with sleigh
bells. It occurred to me that when my grandsons sing Jingle Bells, they might have no idea what an open sleigh is, or
sleigh bells, so I rounded up these pictures, one old and one current.
Another
of my mom’s stories is about the Christmas during the Depression when she asked
her parents for a fountain pen. Since the boys have no clue what a fountain pen
is, I included old pictures.
Do you
remember the Tom Durr story? And my struggles to write it? I rearranged it and finally
finished it—after trying half a century to do so! It, too, has a place in my collection.
I snapped
the stories into a three-ring binder for now, will keep sending the boys more
stories and, I hope, will put them into book format in coming months or years.
This
temporary binder format allows me to play around with the order in which to
place the stories, and I’m glad of that since currently they feel
helter-skelter.
Because
of that, yesterday I took comfort in stumbling upon an old Mary DeMuth quote:
Try departing from chronology: Most people tell
their stories in chronological order. Why not brainstorm new ways to structure
your memoir?
Maybe make it
present to past.
Or use a memory
that weaves its way through various episodes of your life.
Or try a strategic
leap from one memory to another.
Or capture a memory
related to a period of history.
Answer this: How
would trying something other than chronology change the face and feel of your
memoir?
What
about you? Over the holidays did you give family members your stories? If so,
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