A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Is Age Muddying the Waters of Your Memory?

English: River Deben saltings Muddy creeks fil...
River Deben saltings Muddy creeks fill up at high water but the salt marsh is rarely covered. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       According to Greek mythology, the dead drank from the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, so they would not remember the life that they had recently left.  Sadly, some of us as we grow older begin to sip on those waters of forgetfulness in the years before we leave this Earth.   In some cases it is the afflictions such as dementia or Alzheimer's that can muddle the mind, while others may stay sharp and cognizant into a very old age.  For others it may not as much of an aging thing as it may have to do with poor diet, use of mind-altering substances (alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs either prescribed or recreational), or other memory deterring factors.

        Memory can be a tricky thing that is highly unpredictable.  There are people who tend to be forgetful throughout their lives.  Memory training can be an answer that might help and even certain vitamins, minerals, and other substances have shown to be effective for some.  So far there is no exact science that can perform memory magic for everyone.  There are probably as many variables regarding memory as there are people.

         What are the implications of memory loss for those wanting to write memoir?   The answer is pretty obvious:   For the memoir writer, memory is most of the content.  If the memories aren't there then there is no memoir, but the written work becomes something else entirely.  If the memories are faulty then the memoir is unreliable and potentially a work closer to fiction than anything of historical value.

         Anyone interested in writing their own memoirs someday would do well to begin now.  If you have been thinking of writing your own memoir and have not been keeping track of life then the present is the time to be recording that which tomorrow will be the past.   Journals or diaries are invaluable resources for the memoirist.  These along with scrapbooks and photo albums are the obvious first choices for recording life stories.  Here are a few more for you to consider:


  • Make a time-line--A loose leaf binder or a word document works best for this method.  Starting with your birth date, record your life by years filling in highlights and significant events as they come to you.   You can keep going back to add to this as memories come back to you.
  • Create a personal folklore--When I was a kid my mother would tell me stories about when she was a child and I did the same with my own kids.  Children love stories so why not get creative with your own life and leave a legacy for your kids.  It's like money in the bank.  When you need to withdraw the memories you've forgotten then maybe your kids can help by retelling the legend of you as they remember hearing it.
  • Assemble the artifacts of your life--If you tend to accumulate old memories, why not organize them in a logical sequence.  Write down what they represent and if they aren't dated already, try to record the date as close to what you can remember.
  • Talk to family and friends--Conversation is typically an enjoyable pastime for most of us.  Use those times for probing the minds of others as to what they remember about the family history and make notes that will help put pieces of your life in better perspective.  You might even inspire a collaborative family history project.
  • Read modern histories--We all have memories of the current events that occurred during our lives and often those events have had impact on us.   What did we do in response to various events and what did we think in those times?   History books and documentaries can touch parts of our lives that we may have forgotten.
  • Record a personal documentary--This can be done with audio recordings or even better by video.  You can do this yourself or recruit the help of someone with good equipment and editing skills.  Use all the resources you have on hand to add images and sound bites.  It's best to write the script ahead of time, but the interviews can be improvisational and edited later if necessary.   If you want to do a higher quality job, hire a professional life documentarian.  There are a number who can be found online.  This will be more expensive, but what a great keepsake for you and the rest of your family.  This is a nice gift idea for Christmas--you can have one made for a loved one whose memory you would like to help preserve or have your own life story made with copies to be distributed among those who would like something like this.
      Now is the time to save your own life!  And by that I mean to document your life and your memories for posterity.   Once you have everything in order and still want to focus on writing true memoir--snippets of your life story or the impressions that certain parts of your life left on you--the full overview of the story makes the ideal resource to use for your reference.

        Don't wait until age or some catastrophic mental loss has taken away your memories.   Put them down on record so they won't be totally forgotten.

          What are some things you do to help you to remember the details of your life?   Have you tried any of the suggestions I've made here?    Do you have anything about the life of a friend, someone in your family, or some other person significant to you that was left in your care?

19 comments:

  1. Most of my deepest memories I have tucked into the songs I sing along to...

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    1. Music has a great power to do this. Assembling a life soundtrack is a very effective way of tapping into ones own passed for some, though for the purpose of historical documentation it's important to provide some commentary as to how each song reflects your own life. Music is a personal memory that needs to be explained to others in order for them to understand the complete significance.

      Music holds so many memories for me too.

      Lee

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  2. I have my old diaries that date back to 1/1/77 when I was in the 7th grade and go to a few years ago. I also have some other stuff written down about what songs (mostly from the 70s) reminded me of. And all my Grateful Dead show journals that I recorded everything I saw and did at shows. Plus I've been taking pics since 8th grade.

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    1. You have some excellent documentation about your life. Maybe you should write a short piece to start using a portion of what you have to tell about some outstanding incident or reflect on periods of your life as shaped by what you were going through at the time. With the illustrations to accompany your words you could have an interesting article.

      Lee

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  3. In many ways, my blog is recording memories for me and my children. Suppose what I need to do is back it up to somewhere in case Blogger ever crashes or fails in some way that is not recoverable.

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    1. I agree that our blogs can provide tremendous opportunities to capture who we are as writers and details where we are in our lives. Blogger gives you an option for backing up your blog. That reminds me that I'm due for another back-up.

      Lee

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  4. Very appropriate post, Arlee. I have a memory that has a lot of holes in it. However I try to talk with family about our early days, and that is a great help. I now keep a journal/diary and have recorded lots of things there.
    I have written down lots of my memories in short articles, and I am now going back through them, filling in holes and making them more interesting (I hope). These are what I am posting on my own blog for Memoir Monday.
    As you say, it is good to do it as soon as you can, before all is lost.

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    1. The more you write about the memories the better chance of preserving them. The blog is an excellent place to capture many of them.

      Lee

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  5. My husband and I were just talking about how our memories are starting to slip. I do think one of the reasons I blog is to keep things "alive." I've been blogging for almost six years, and when I look back at some earlier posts I go "Well, hello. I forgot about that!."

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    1. Yeah, me too--everything you said. I'm thankful that I discovered blogging.

      Lee

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  6. Good tips! My grandmother wrote her journal in short hand.

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    1. Hope there was somebody who could decipher that.

      Lee

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  7. Great tips Lee! That's one of my big fears about not having the memories to fill in the story. I'm working right now on a memoir and there are a few years that I know events happened that I would want to include but for the life of me I can't remember. I need to find some recollection exercises or maybe hypnosis to bring this stuff back out of the deep recesses of my mind. I've asked friends and family and their memories aren't any better than mine ... and of course they're not as invested as I am in retrieving the memories. Good reminder. I needed this. Thanks!

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    1. Have you tried building a timeline for the period you're looking at? Once you've set one up you can start doing detective work by looking up dates on Google. What was happening in the news? Songs on the charts? Movies playing in the theaters? A lot of things can start triggering memories so you can start connecting the dots.

      I've found that the memories of others are usually not much better than mine, but it never hurts to ask as what they remember can give you new perspectives or it might trigger other memories for you.

      Lee

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    2. What a great tip Lee! I never thought about doing anything like that, checking what was happening in the news, songs, movies, etc. BRILLIANT!! Thanks!

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  8. You missed my favorite, the good old fashion photo album. I've got a closet full of albums with pictures always added in chronological order and the start/end dates and significant events recorded on the inside cover. Just looking at those pictures will trigger memories for me.

    My dad preferred slide to photos. I inherited his slide collection last fall and watching them now brings back not only the memories captured in the pictures but also memories of my family gathered around on a Sunday afternoon to "watch the slides".

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    1. I did mention photo albums and scrapbooks in the paragraph prior to the list. I think the photo albums are among the best memory prompts. I have a lot of them, but they mostly aren't labeled well which is something that one day I need to go back and do.

      I recall the days of the slideshow. My parents never had slides, but we had 8 mm movies which is also a wonderful archive though I have found them to be deteriorating. I think most were transferred to DVD but still I can see the risk of those old movies and the more modern videos one day being lost if they don't keep getting updated to new media choices.

      Lee

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    2. See how bad my memory is? By the name I'd gotten to the end of your post, I'd forgotten you mentioned albums. Pitiful, huh?

      The labels in my albums are more for me so I can find a pictures if I'm looking for it. Someday I need to go back, too, and do the labeling for whoever gets the albums after I'm gone.

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    3. I'm the same way! I can forget something someone just told me.

      I need to label my photos with the dates and circumstances, but also who the people are. Sometimes I can't recall who's in the photo. We found that to be true as we were going through my mothers photos. There were some people in those photos that we had no idea who they were and that's kind of too bad..

      Lee

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Arlee Bird