Page 89 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine

Write Your Life by Christi Brooks

Chaplain Publishing
www.chaplainlegacy.com

reat-grandma other beaus? Will your grandchildren know that you were
was getting there for D-Day, or how you ran a successful farm during
Ga little too the major droughts on the South Plains? Now is the perfect
competitive with the time to leave your legacy.
dominos, so we put
them back in the tin Whether you attend a writing class or seminar to help
container and decided to play a different type of game. you organize your memories, record a video, or just pick
My daughter is fourteen now and loves to orchestrate up a spiral notebook and pen, now is the time to begin.
group discussions. So, with her grandparents and great- Once you start, you will find so much to write about that
grandparents in for a visit from Illinois, she jumped at the you may end up putting it together in a book. There are
chance to learn more about these special people in her life. companies right here in Lubbock who would be happy to
help you.
She asked us where we would live if money were no
object, what career we would choose if we had another Regardless of how you do it, please start leaving your
life to live, and how we would spend three wishes from a legacy by writing your life. Your grandkids will thank you
genie. But the one question that stuck with me is when she one day.
asked who we would have lunch with if we could pick any
human, living or dead. We all chose great historical figures:
Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, etc. But her
great-grandpa said he would like to have lunch with his
grandparents because he never got to know them.

What a choice! I immediately changed my answer to
match his. I would much rather get to know the people I
had heard so much about but never really knew. I could
have my great-grandma Lawrence show me how to
make the delicious flaky biscuits her kids still rave about.
I could watch my great-grandma Walker treat all the
neighborhood ailments with her home remedies and innate
wisdom that earned her the nickname “Doc Walker.” I
could ask my grandma Wilma how she fell in love with my
grandpa or why they weren’t very close with his family.

If only I could have a few hours with these people to really
get to know them. What was their childhood like? Did they
follow politics or participate in barn-raisings? Were they
good dancers or good Baptists? What subjects did they
love or hate in school? What were their experiences in the
Great Depression or memories of Pearl Harbor?
I won’t get the opportunity on this side of Heaven to ask
them. I have to settle for the snippets of information I Senior Link is in the business of helping people tell their
have—if only they had written about their life. If only I had stories, and we encourage every one of our readers to record
a record of their thoughts and musings, their hopes and their own in some way. Classes, workshops, support groups,
dreams. and even a seminar are in the process of being scheduled.
Video journaling sessions are also available. We encourage
If only your children and grandchildren had yours! you to contact one of us, if you or your group are interested.

Have you been preparing a legacy to leave your
descendants? Have you been writing about how you came
to Lubbock, or why you chose your spouse over all your Erin Agee | eagee7@outlook.com | (806) 441-3955
Jane Bromley | janebromley53@gmail.com
Christi Brooks | christi@chaplainpublishing.com

Lubbock Senior Link 89