I Could Tell You Stories...a tango between memory and imagination

My dear friend Mary, a creative enchantress, and loving humanitarian, has inspired this blog entry. Mary and I share a love for memoir. Mary has been writing her own incredibly courageous and moving memoir. From what little I have seen of her writing, and from what I know of her story, her memoir will offer a glimpse of a phoenix rising from the ashes. And what a lovely pheonix she is!! But that is her story to tell, and I for one, look forward to the day of its unveiling, if it is meant to be. Right now she is working on a live performance piece about her mom. Mary is also a gifted performer and I am sure her performance piece will embody the love, humour, and grit of her very real life relationship with her spunky, and recently recovering mom. In the meanwhile, I wanted to share some of my favorite memoirs. I seem to be drawn to them because they highlight the extraordinary in the ordinary. I love being drawn into someone's life story and to see the moments in time that they capture through memory and so vividly bring back to life with words. It is almost like an archeological dig, this mining for memories that encompass a memoir. And all of the findings one brings together in memoir form serve to show how some moments in our lives may have inexplicably transformed us, while other experiences may have remained touchstones that continue to guide us on our journey. I have read countless memoirs and a few that come to mind at the moment are the following: Widening Circles: A Memoir by Joanna Macy Grace: A Memoir by Mary Cartledgehayes Truth and Beauty:A Friendship by Ann Patchett and Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana both by Haven Kimmel I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the land of Memory and The Florist's Daughter both by Patricial Hampl The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong I bless those who write memoirs and celebrate the precious moments, intense life experiences,and ordinary struggles to be true to ourselves that make up each moment of our lives! May the sharing of memories through the use of creative imagination bring us more deeply into the present moment of our lives. Blessings!