73 "Remember Your Life"
Save Your Own Life
Don’t Let Your Life Fade Away
How many times have you been sitting alone, seeing a child somewhere or an adult do something or just letting your mind wander and it makes you think of something that happened in your life somewhere in the past? The thought flits through your mind for a few wonderful moments. They may be good or not so good memories. But, just the fact that you remembered a piece of your past is wonderful. It is something you should treasure. Record those little memories somewhere so that they will never be lost. That memory may never come back another time in your life. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but if that picture is in your head and you trust it to always be there, you may never see that picture again and wish you had used those one thousand words to remind you of that picture.
I have so many memories of my life and there are times when they are so clear and vivid that it is almost like watching it on some TV show. I have talked to other people that don’t or can’t or won’t remember their past. They have selective memories. Sometimes it’s because something happened that the person chooses, subconsciously or otherwise, not to remember. But that blockage just might be hiding some wonderful thing that happened too. I have been talking to my sister about my memories and when I bring certain things up from the past, it will sometimes spark something in her memories. She tells me that she is really thankful for my bringing our past years back to life even if it is only for a brief moment. But then, that’s why I am writing this. Once written, it is no longer for just a brief moment.
My point is, when you remember something, write it down. Not everybody keeps a diary or a log of their life. At my age, 66, I really surprise myself and others with how much of my life I am capable of recalling. I am actually doing this for my kids and grand kids just in case they ever get curious about how I grew up or what I went through in my younger years. Maybe this won’t be exciting or thrilling, but what I am hoping is, it may give other people the idea to keep and record or even to try to recall memories, not only for themselves, but for their kids and grandkids.
I would love to know more about my dad and mom in their early lives. I know that my mother started writing her life story but we don’t know what ever happened to the manuscript. She passed away and my sister was able to find only one chapter of her life. I read that one chapter and I wanted to read more, and now I feel cheated because I never had the opportunity to really know my mom before I was old enough to recall things about her. She had let someone else read the story and didn’t get it back before her last days.
But again, don’t let your past be lost and forgotten. It will matter to someone. I have always felt that my life was too insignificant to matter to anyone, and maybe it is. I agree that I haven’t had an exciting or unusual life. Since I started writing, I found out different. It matters to me and I realize it just might matter to my children and grand children some day.
That’s what inspired me to write and record my life. I want my kids and grandkids to know that I didn’t have it all that easy, and not all that hard growing up, and then later, how the rest of my life went. I also want them to know I was no angel either.
My story starts when I was about 4 years old, my earliest memories. It takes us through the divorce of my dad and mom, and my mother getting married to my step-dad. We go through the years and all of our moves, all of the schools I attended and different friends and girlfriends in my life. All of the hardships and good times spent with my mom, step-dad, 2 sisters and half brother. Through the tough times we endured when my step-dad left. This story will take you all the way through to the end of my high school years and end when I enlisted in the Air Force. There will be a continuation after that because that is another whole story.
I am not going to publish my story here; it would take to many pages. I just hope this little excerpt will inspire others to start recording their lives and experiences for their families.
Greg
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Comments
Beautiful, my friend! I, too, write a good number of Hubs based on personal memories. These personal essays don't amount to a hill of beans with the Google search mechanism, but I really don't give a rip. People of our generation remember how writing used to be a form of genuine sharing of memories and accounts from one's past...not this plastic SEO crap that saturates online writing these days. I may be committing literary suicide and my days may be numbered on HP as a result, but I will stand up and salute anyone's efforts to write as you and I do...from the heart and with no formula...just plain, sincere, look me in the eyes and heart kind of communication.
(Just one thing, my friend...please check your first sentence. Thanks!)
Aloha and blessings from SE Washington!
Joe
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Thank you, and I will. Greg
Your advice is excellent, gregas. Before my teenage son was born, I wrote what I call an autobiography, all of ten pages long. Too bad I did not continue writing post his birth, because, unlike you, my memories now are not vivid nor abundant. Still, it's my story, and maybe my son and any future grands might find it useful.
This is such a weird coincidence! I've begun to do just that - writing down memories. At age 53, I'm pretty amazed at how much stuff from my early childhood I remember. I started doing this as part of the work/research I'm doing for a story I'm working on. Great advice! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this hub Greg. We all have memories - good and bad ones. Although we sometimes wished we had all the good ones, occasionally, it's the bad experiences that have influenced us to strive for excellence.
I enjoyed reading this. As we age we think more and more about our early childhood, and our lives in general. It seems to be part of the whole thing of life reflection, and becomes more and more important. I call it a legacy of art in a Hub that I wrote.
Greg you have inspired me to start again. I used to keep a diary but somehow stopped along the way. I have a vivid memory of many things. Thank you for the inspiration...
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Thank you all for the comments and encouragement and you are welcome. I just know it makes me feel better knowing that I have at least partially preserved some of my past. Greg
I really enjoyed this hub Greg. My 72 year old father has been telling me fascinating stories about his past that I never knew about before, and what a joy it is to hear them! I think I will start to record my memoirs for my daughter to look back on too.
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Thank you Aleshia. You should write down what your dad tells you too. I wish I would have had that chance with my dad. Greg
Good advice Greg!
gregas....Love the hub..we must have come from the same part of the world...I started a journal as a very young child and have kept it current throughout my career, now retired. I have shared it with my children and G-C , it contains my trials , errors , success and decisions/choices while raising their Mothers and stories/incidents that I actually had forgotten...It will pass the journal on to them after I am gone..
It contains family history from the last four generations..with photos and pertinent info....thanks for your share....more should get involved...
You're so right, I'd love to read the story of my parents life. Unfortunately I never really knew my birth father, so it would be a prize for me to hold knowing about him. Excellent article, something you don't really think about in life.
I've been working on my autobiography since the 80s. I was in my early 20s. I just had a need to do it, something internal. I've not finished it yet, but I'm close. I don't work on it much. I need to. For my children - like you said. It will mean something someday to someone somewhere. I get it out of the closet on rare occasion. The first time I got it out after I'd tucked it away, I saw all the negative. Now my job is to go back in and develop it with all the positive things and the times God was watching out for me. That's maturity I guess. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Hi BG, I have only done mine up to when I graduated and enlisred in the Air Force. That's when I got married and as I think about the rest of it, it is almost like a soap opera to me. But I will finish it.
Thank you. Greg
Its good to record one's life...I might start doing it too very soon .
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Hi Leena. Thank you. In was very rewarding to go back and remember so much. Greg
Hi Greg I enjoyed reading your hub. I have often thought of writing down my story for my kids and grandchildren and I think now it is time that I do that. I think the grandchildren would find it interesting in the difference time has made in our world. My life growing up is so different than the way they are growing up. The world keeps on changing.
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Hi L.M., thank you for the visit and the comment. Putting my memories "down on paper", so to speak, really made me feel good and once I started recording the memories a lot more came along. Greg
Lovely hub, gregas, with great sentiments. It hits home for me tonight. I think you should absolutely record your beautiful life. I actually have the handwritten biography of my great uncle and I have been reading it, treasuring every word of what happened to him, as a boy, in the early 1900's. It reminded me that we should treasure the people we have while they are here with us, too. We are living history.
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Hi Amie, thank you for the visit and the comment. I really would really love to have information about some of my relatives. That is something we don't think about sometimes until it is too late. And welcome to the hubs. Greg
Hi Greg. A very nice hub I am 70 this coming August. I also think of times gone by and wish I had put pen to paper. I have written a few hubs on my past life which Have a good readership. I wish so much that I knew what my mum did during world war 2. She always said she was on 'munitions' short for ammunition. I know she worked on a line making shells for big guns but that's all. I enjoyed your hub - Any news on John?
Best wishes.
Graham.
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Hi Graham, thank you for the visit and comment. They have found John recently. He is in a home in New Mexico. He has a lot on issues to deal with in his head that stem from the VN war. That war really affected his life as it did so many others. It's just to bad that they can't get they can't get the same help and support that the soldiers today are receiving. Again, thank you, Greg
I wish I had some writings of my parents and grand parents. I would love to know more about their childhood, their dreams etc. So what a grand idea to journal for your family. I started to journal my history several years back and then at some point stopped. Your story has encouraged me to get back to it.
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Hi Shari,
I stopped on mine at the point when I got out of school and joined the Air Force. But I do intend to finish it. I retired and started writing but then went back to work and haven't had time. Greg
you are so right. true. i call those memories "times of my life" more often they make me smile. some other times it makes me "teary-eyed."
I enjoy reading your poetry and prose. Beautiful picture of your childhood home. Sounds like you've lived an interesting life, with joys and challenges.
By the way, I think your writing style is fabulous. You are a talented writer!
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Hi Deborah, thank you so much for the comment and the encouragement. My life has been a bit of a challenge, not as much as some, but interesting. Greg
We learn from our challenges ... & celebrate with our joys! With gratitude for all. Yes, I have my challenges too, yet I discover wonder and beauty each day. And, in uplifting one another life becomes a most enlivening experience.
Everyone enjoys reading this Hub. After reading this article they will remind their sweet memories of their life. Everyone try to write their life stories (History). Even me too after reading this article I went by the past. My Grand Mother (93 years) passed away in year 2004. I had her diary with me. Her experience, achievements her life history is in this Dairy. Every Sunday I use read this Diary to learn more and more. I never get any feeling that am missing my Grand mother. She is always with me. She is a dynamic lady.
Ok, time to journal again. Thanks for the great hub voting it up.
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