Memoir

Posted on | December 16, 2009 |

At times it seems almost anachronistic to be writing about memoir on a website.  After all, memoir is triggered by some very subtle cues - like seeing one’s father’s handwriting on an old letter, before he got too old to write clearly.  That’s something I’m never likely to get from an archived email.

Of course, there are advantages.  I can pull up videos of friends and relatives and in the future these may be a treasure trove of insights, wisdom, and opportunities to reflect.

And then there are other strange things.  As I review my notes and dairies I realize that my own penmanship has atrophied because I’m always typing.  And that delight in forming the letters, filling a page with clear, even script, that’s gone.  Is that a loss?  I don’t know. I do know that I don’t feel as good about the physical act of writing as I once did, when, Parker pen in hand, I’d enjoy the process as much as I’d relish a walk in the sun.

Whatever one decides, simply thinking about change can bring us to a finer appreciation of this very moment, now.  And that’s what memoir, at its best, can give us back.

Pass me my quill and inkhorn, would you?

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