Did you have to work?

Did you have it off?

Did you do any self-care?

Did you spend it with family or friends?

What Did You Do?

What is the memory you want to savor from yesterday?

If we record our memories as we make them and put them in a particular folder, then we can easily find them when we transcribe and edit the material of our life experiences. The recording makes it easier for us to talk about our life or put these memories in a book for ourselves and the people we love.

We want to take the burden out of the writing struggle. As a writer, I know this battle well, and it’s a fearsome one. That’s why we want to make our stories the easy way when we put them in a book.

This blog is a short example from a brief recording I did yesterday. And yes, I already transcribed and edited it for this blog. But in writing it, I was struck by the fact that I wanted to remember the smell and eventually name the scent so I would not forget this Write Heart Memory Recording 🙂

“I slept longer than usual because it is a Holiday and I began by taking myself out for breakfast. My behavior surprised me because I had no intentions of doing this because I was going to work. What surprised me, even more, was deciding to eat outside since it smelled so good out there. I grabbed a chair and sat down at one of the cafe tables. I sipped my cappuccino and ate a buckwheat crepe while talking to my husband trying to bridge the gaps in the daily life that we haven’t had together in over 100 days. The smell seems to feel my pain and keeps me centered instead of breaking out in tears. 

But you would not believe that the smell followed me home, and I didn’t want to say “good-bye” to it, so we spent the afternoon together reading on the front porch The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill. It was a great book to read, but it also connected me to my oldest daughter, Katie, who bought and read it and said it was marvelous.

The scent didn’t leave me either as I went over to Paul’s house (my first husband) for a family gathering. We spent the 4th outside and smelled Paul grilling steaks, going inside to get the rest of the fixings and eating out on the picnic table and having great conversations. We watched Xavier, the little one, playing and thrilled at the fireworks and then we said good-bye.

I went home and went to bed and didn’t think much about the smell until I decided to listen to the recording and use it as my blog. And then it hit me, what the smell was all about. And what do you think it was? It was my middle age years coming to say good-bye and reminding me how sweet life is at any age. So when my new decade comes rolling around in a few weeks I don’t have to be afraid of it, I have to notice when it wants to be with me and act on these instincts.

Beth