Article Read. You Can Find All Kind of Articles

Home | Search Article

Search

-- All Categories --Auto and TrucksEducationFamilyFood and DrinkGadgets and GizmosHealthHobbiesHome ImprovementKids and TeensLegal MattersParentingPets and AnimalsRecreation and SportsSite PromotionTravel and LeisureWeb DevelopmentWomenWriting
Advanced Search

• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Family
• Food and Drink
• Gadgets and Gizmos
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Kids and Teens
• Legal Matters
• Parenting
• Pets and Animals
• Recreation and Sports
• Site Promotion
• Travel and Leisure
• Web Development
• Women
• Writing

---

You toss and turn, trying to wake up from a recurring nightmare that has you in its grip.Four generations of family members are descending on your house for this years Christmas dinner. Its suppose to be a happy occasion, so why are you in a cold sweat? Tension rises and tempers flare. Your daughter-in-law flees from you, stung by your simple request to be quiet already, shesgetting on your last good nerve. Your mother-in-law tells you for the umpteenth time how lucky you are to have snagged her son. Your grandchildren are trying to hide a snicker about the weird way you and great-grandma talk and dress.You are seriously ticked off because your mother and mother-in-law refuse to accept the undeniable fact that you are a grandparent, and should be respected accordingly. You and your husband are beside yourself, and out of frustration you act like enemies instead of each others support system. All in all, it is a dream from hell.And then you wake up and discover that it isnt a dream after all. God forbid, they arent coming to dinner! They live with you. Although statistics show that intergenerational families are a common occurrence, it is still one of the least talked about family situations.We women seldom talk about it, because we dont want to embarrass our loved ones. We bear our burdens, almost insilence, sharing our frustrations only with our few remaining friends.If this situation hasnt come to your house yet, not to worry. It will. Give it a year or two. If you are a babyboomer like me, and fortunate enough to have a living parent (or parents), it will come. And sadly, time is not with us with regard to keeping this repository of wisdom and information with us forever. We need to capture it while time permits.We Boomers dont think of ourselves as "older," but lets face it, we are the generation most able to articulate our accumulated experiences, wisdom, and other information critical to helping our children,grandchildren, and those not yet born understand why they are the way they are. Our knowledge holds the key to their recognizing if not avoiding sand traps, and other dangerous situations.Heres the good news. There is no need to be a victim of this situation, or wait until all we can say is I shoulda,woulda, coulda. You have the capacity to change things, to bring understanding and joy into your intergenerational family. You have the capacity to capture history and shareit with generations to come. There is nothing that brings a sense of purpose, self-esteem, and fulfillment like havinga formal, documented account, memoirs if you will, that chronicles your own history.The process has three simple steps and is actually a lot of fun.Step 1: Create your own memoirs, or become an angel of mercy and help an older family member get started. If twoor more like each others company, consider collaboration among family members.Begin at the beginning. What is your earliest memory of your childhood home? A picture really is worth a thousand words. Draw a picture of it that will literally map this part of your story. You dont have to be Picasso. Start with a rectangle, about the size of a regular sheet of paper. Draw your house. Lay out your street, then the streets in your neighborhood. Who were the people and what were they like? What were you favorite places? Why? Maybe you didnt exactly live on a street. My map included our house, yard, chickens, corn crib, ditch, a path through the patch and another leading up the pasture. Everythingwe did contributed to getting food, getting our lessons, going to church, and the normal games siblings play on each other. The main characters were my family, dominated by my mother and grandfather. Whatever else I wrote about, these were recurring people and themes.Next, write down everything you remember about each part of the picture youve just drawn. Write it as it comes to you. Give depth and character to your pictures. Write what you feel. Keep writing until you can actually smell the food, reach out and touch your favorite chair, or hear yourmothers voice calling to you. Youll have time later to sort it all out. Some of it will make you weep, and others will have you rolling on the floor with glee.Now determine what most vividly touched your early life. Was it family, school? Did you move frequently? You have to feel strongly about it in order to help others see why you feel the way you do.Challenge your memory. Family members come in handy here. See if they remember it the same way you do. Be careful not to get into memory turf wars. Each of us jealously guardsour recollections; they make up who we are. So be gentle. This is suppose to be fun, and these are your memoirs.Use facts to give your memoirs authenticity and accuracy. Your local library is a great place to start. Property records at a county recording office will clarify who owned the property next to you (and you thought they were aliens). Court records will tell you who was married to whom (oops!). Probate records show death and inheritances. Department of education records recount the public education grandma and Aunt Tilda received. Police records might allay your suspicions about your ancestors, or confirm your runaway suspicions. You might find information that shows anentirely different perspective from that you have carried all your life.When you revisit your early life, youll discover that each day, week, month, and year present wonderful fodder for your memoirs. Block these periods. Let your memory take youacross each landscape. Write what you see. Soon you will be able to capture the essence of experiences andactivities that made you who you are. Dont stifle your reactions to them, even those you would just as soon forget. You survived, didnt you. If youre reading this, youve donebetter than simple survive; youre taking charge of your life.As you work through each blocked period, look for the these elements within your memories, and how you feel about the impact each had on your life.ChurchSchoolTeachersMost influential adultHistorical eventsHappiest eventMost frightening eventProudest momentMost embarrassing eventYour first loveLocate all the pictures of people, places, and things youcan get your hands on. Pictures, historical fact, and therole each had in your life make for dynamic and interestingreading.Congratulations. You have taken the first steps to writing your memoirs.Step 2: Lay out your information and pictures in chronological order. Use historical events to frame yourstories. This makes your memoirs an excellent resource for teaching local history, sharing heritage, and instilling pride in family legacy.Step 3: Prepare for gift-giving, as your memoirs make a most treasured gift that lasts throughout generations. Makethem into a book to share with others, develop individual stories into skits and/or readings to bring excitement tofamily celebrations. Or,turn them into dollars as you launch your new writing and teaching career.This article may be reproduced in its entirety as long as the resource box at the bottom in included.Copyright 2001 Joyce M. Coleman. All rights reserved, except as noted above.http://www.locusthillpublishing.com. Joyce Coleman is author of acclaimed book, Soul Stirrings - How lookingback gives each of us the freedom to move forward.Subscribe to her newsletter, The Business of Life athttp://www.locusthillpublishing.com/newsletter/newsletter_subscribe.html for practical tools thatenhance living. Includes self improvement, wealth-building, family issues, recipes.

About the Author

Joyce Coleman is an acclaimed author, online publisher, speaker,and consultant. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Her articles are widely published, and some of her other works can be found at the Mississippi Museum of History and Archives.