What are your earliest childhood memories? My husband remembers at age three living in married student housing with his family in Texas when his dad went to college on the GI bill after WWII. I can only remember from age four flying in my dad’s airplane with my parents. Take some time to reflect back, perhaps looking at some of your old family photos to help you recall your past.
Write about where you lived, what you remember about your first house or apartment, neighborhood, friends, pets, etc. There is a whole world of experiences that can fascinate your posterity. You didn’t have TV in those days or Internet? How did you survive? What were hobbies or games that kept you busy? My husband liked to bike with friends and dig forts in the dirt. Scouting activities were enjoyable, as he grew older. Learning how to do archery, camping, whittling and orienteering were all new skills that influenced his future choice of a career in the Forest Service.
Did you live near your grandparents? I lived in the same place for a while with my paternal grandparents. Close enough to walk across our small rural town; it was safe in those days. I loved dogs, and my grandmother always knew when I was coming because she would hear a bunch of dogs barking and following me. I loved to watch my grandparents do anything: cook, fed the chickens, garden, clean house or just sit on the back porch and talk. Grandma always had time to help me put together a puzzle. Grandpa taught me to fish and love the outdoors. If I’d been a boy, he would have taken me deer hunting. We did hunt for pine nuts and rattlesnakes in the sagebrush wilderness of Utah’s outdoors. Summer cookouts are fond family memories with grandma’s delicious homemade picnics.
Life was slower in those days. Can we learn from looking back at our childhood memories how to better relate to our own grandchildren? We need to take time away from the distractions of our modern world to commune with nature and actually talk face to face and tell our posterity of our childhood experiences. Start writing today about your life while you still can remember the “good old days.” What lessons did you learn from your parents and grandparents? Give them a voice and recognize all they did for you. It's time to resolve to write down some of your life's experiences in the new year.