For 2013, I thought I would finally do something I’ve thought of many times: writing my memoir. The word “memoir” seemed pretentious to me. I’m not famous, who would want to read what I had to say? But I wanted to leave something of myself for my son for when I’m gone, something that would tell him who I was before he came along, something about the family I came from, my view of who I am and the events that made me who I am. Our children have their view of us, but they can’t know our perspective of who we are. So writing a memoir is one way of understanding ourselves. Reliving past victories helps us regain spirit and confidence that might have ebbed over the years. Rethinking old failures can help us work through long-suppressed traumas. Writing your memoirs before retirement can help you remember what was important to you, things you always wanted to do, but didn’t have the opportunity to do. Writing your memoir after retirement can spark long-forgotten memories that can bring new joy to our lives and give us direction for new adventures. Seeing in my local paper a course offering on how to write memoirs led me to Justine and our weekly class. Some people in the class are really creative and are writing for publication. Justine teaches from Denis Ledoux’s book “Turning Memories into Memoirs”, a really fine text. Check out turningmemories.com for more information. Each week we read our stories to the group and I have been excited each week to share my latest. I am eager to hear other people’s stories. I’ve lost a lot of sleep because of the memories that keep bubbling up!