Life Stories

Anyone who has been reading my blog over a reasonable period of time, or anyone with whom I've been communicating by email, will be aware that I get excited when I hear about other people wanting to write their life stories.

Many people, usually as they reach middle or retirement age, begin looking back over their lives and realise that unless they commit these memories to paper, a lot of valuable social and personal history may be lost forever.

Everyone has a story to tell - just as you are unique, so too is your story. What's more, your story is of interest to more people than you realise. You don't need to have lived an extraordinary life for it to be interesting. When choosing books from the library, I usually bypass the biographies of famous people because I'm more interested in the 'ordinary' people.

We all know that the months and years seem to be flying by faster and faster. Of course, time is passing at the same speed that it always has but we just seem to want to fit more into each day, or there may be many like me who don't organise their time very well. Whatever the reason, if you are thinking of writing your story 'one of these days', then please think about doing it SOONER, rather than later.

Most people decide to write their story to benefit, interest and inform their children and grandchildren, who generally are not very interested at this stage. If you are of this generation, may I suggest that you start to get interested - NOW!

Don't wait until your parents are too old to remember events with clarity, or worse still, until they are no longer here. Once you begin reading these stories you will have so many questions you want answered, and it will be difficult to get answers if the writer has passed away. I know, I have hundreds of questions I would like to ask my parents, but alas, it is many years too late.

Your parents' stories are not just about them and events long gone, they are part of YOUR life story, too. So many characteristics and events experienced by past generations have combined to make you the person you are.

Seize the opportunities that arise in day to day activities to discuss how things may have been different in the past - not necessarily better or worse - but different. For instance, my grandaughters were here last week when I decided to play a recording of a story that my children had loved, called "Badjelly the Witch" by Spike Milligan. As I took the vinyl record out of its cover, Zoe exclaimed "WHAT is that?" At seven years of age, of course she had never seen a vinyl disc and she and Shay were very interested to learn what it was, how it played and where the sound came from. Things like food, clothing, entertainment, transport, housing, jobs, holidays, and schooling are all subjects that can be discussed easily and differences explored. You don't need to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon for your life to be interesting to your family. YOU are interesting because of who you are in the eyes of your children and grandchildren.

PLEASE - don't let your story die with you. Pass it on to those who need to know.