Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)
Posted on April 30, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet
Peeling back the layers of my life
“Are you reelin’ in the years?
Stowin’ away the time.”
Reelin’ in the Years – Steely Dan
At the ripe old age of 73, my mind is not as sharp as it once was. I’m starting to forget names far too frequently. Sometimes I find it hard to recreate events of the previous week and worst of all, going into a room in my apartment and forgetting what I was going there for. The only thing that keeps me from being unduly alarmed is that most of my friends are experiencing many of the same things. No matter what tactics we employ, like doing crosswords or playing chess, it is inevitable that Father Time is catching up with us.
With this backdrop, why would anyone in their right mind choose to write their memoirs? Who said that I was in my right mind?!
I have been pondering writing my autobiography for a long time. Having written seven books, one of my goals was to pen 10 books by the time I turned 80. I reckoned that writing my memoirs would be an easy one – a “layup” in basketball jargon.
Stop the presses.
I didn’t play organized basketball but when I did, I missed plenty of layups. I can’t think of many pursuits that don’t require effort and diligence.
If I couldn’t remember the name of a high school classmate or what I had for supper last night, how in the hell was I going to capture memories over a lifetime? Like they say, if you’re going to eat an elephant, you’re going to have to take it small bites at a time.
As one might expect, I decided to do this book in chronological order. “Start at the beginning” is a good mantra for a project such as this.
Luckily, I had a lot of memorabilia to draw from including journals, old newspaper clippings, and a large collection of photo albums, to jog my memory. We’re all different and unique. Some people remember periods of their life with absolute clarity while other periods draw a blank. I had vague memories of my early childhood but once I reached the age of 10, I was firing on all cylinders.
One of the many luxuries of growing up in a big family is that I have siblings who are older, who remember things from when I was very young. I tapped into their storytelling prowess and picked up many nuggets that will appear in the book. Who can forget the “sick room” where Friars Balsam cooked on a hot plate bringing comfort to an ailing child?
Progressing through the years, I was able to reach out to schoolmates and university friends to backfill some of my stories and now that my narrative is taking place in the early 2000’s, I have my own children to tell their stories and fill in the blanks.
So far, this has been a fascinating and rewarding experience. While these are technically my stories, many of them are your stories, as many of my readers grew up in the same era.
I was chugging along nicely until I had my unfortunate accident of April 5th, breaking my right arm, my dominant arm. Dealing with the pain has been one thing but living a left-handed existence has been challenging to say the least. But when these challenges arise, we adapt because we must. Under no circumstances could I contemplate writing on my laptop for the first 10 days of my confinement, but now that I’m progressing and have made adaptations, I’m back at it, full steam ahead.
Not everybody is a writer, but everyone has a story to tell. I think everyone should write their memoirs in one fashion or another. It doesn’t have to be a book. Even jogging down random memories in a scribbler would suffice.
I’m hoping that writing will keep my brain sharp for years to come.
Now , if I could only remember why I made a trip to my bedroom a few minutes ago!
“Memories
Light the corners of my mind,
Misty water- colored memories,
Of the way we were.”
The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand
Have a great weekend.
