Tag Archives: memoir

Life Is Story

Posted on by under Journaling

Journal 2016

I am captivated by stories. I can sit in the pew, mind wandering during a sermon—until a story begins, and then I am all ears.

The Word of God is story–beginning in a garden, climaxing at the cross, and resolving in Revelation.

Every life is a unique story. Trena’s ended this week. She’s gone, but her the impact of her story lives on in her children and her grandkids.

I have recorded my story—what I’m willing to share anyway—in my journals (and now a few anecdotes in my blogs). But my story is not relegated to some words on paper. The impact of my story carries on in my future generations. Story matters. I want my story to end well, faithful to my Lord and King.

A 2024 Update. I asked my boarding school classmates at our reunion in May if anyone had written down their story. Several admitted to having begun the process by answering questions from a script. I did that with my parents. They each filled in daily questions for a full year, and then I created an Excel chart with the results. Next, Scott and I answered the same questions. It would be fun to see my girls’ answers to the same.

Question #34DadMomMeScott
What was your favorite meal as a child?Fish of any kind. Homemade ice cream or snow cones. Rhubarb pie, mincemeat pie. Pork roast and trimmings.Probably salmon in any form or goulash. Popcorn was not exactly a meal but to this day it is my favorite food!I loved fried meat of any kind, but particularly venison liver. But tuwo da miya topped everything.Soft-boiled egg mixed with potato. Whenever I went to the dentist or was sick, this is what Mom would fix for me.

The thought, however, of summarizing 70 years is daunting to me. And besides, I figure I have 20 more years (if I live as long as my parents did) to dig through all my journals to find the nuggets. And then I just get tired thinking about it. I know how much work is involved in the writing process. I think I’ll just go live my story for now!

Memoirs

Posted on by under Journaling

Journal 2017

Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary—it is the respective proportions of those two categories that make life appear interesting or humdrum. (William Boyd, Any Human Heart)

At funerals, we may read four-paragraph summaries of people’s lives. Families and friends may recount a few stories, and that’s the end of the tale. Most people don’t get written up in history books, and the few that do lived extraordinary lives with interesting stories to tell. And even then, one 300-page book hardly does justice to 90 years of daily living.

A story can camp on one picture, teasing out all the minute details, turning over each leaf to examine what’s underneath. Or a story can gallop through facts, summarizing large chunks of time. Ground view or bird’s eye view, the Bible has both. We get details of some individual stories of Jesus’ miracles but only summaries of other ones. Same with the Apostle Paul. We quickly sail with him through a list of cities and then stop still to examine one incident.

A new acquaintance recently asked me that cringing question, “Where are you from?” My answer often depends on how long I want to engage in the conversation. An hour later, after answering her many questions, she exclaimed, “You have to write your story!” I just shook my head. My childhood sounded foreign and exotic to her, but normal to my MK community.

My girls have also asked me to write my story. I’ve written in journals for 50+ years, but that’s not what they’re interested in primarily. They want to know the details of my childhood, before I started recording, but I’m old enough now that the memories are fading. Only a few snapshots remain, some recorded on film. I’m a big-picture kind of person and not into details. If I wrote a memoir, I’d want to focus on the defining moments, incidents, or epiphanies that changed the course of my life—and perhaps that’s what I accomplish with this blog.

A 2023 Update. My Assistant Editor and friend Dan Elyea, who passed away this month, spent years trolling for memories from his parents, his siblings, and his own life and recording them for posterity. It takes time, intentionality, and perseverance. Sorry, girls, but I’m not sure I have the time or interest to follow in his footsteps. I’m too busy living in the moment. Just grab a few copies of Simroots and you’ll find out what life was like for me growing up in a boarding school overseas.