What Failures Have You Had in Your Life?

Here's another question for your life story:

What failures have you had in your life?

This seems like a negative subject to write about, but if you could share what you learned from your failures with others wouldn't it be worthwhile to write about your failures. Sometimes we think everyone else's life is going well.  They have a nice home and a beautiful car and a wonderful family.  At Christmas I get a few family newsletters from friends who live far away that I don't get to see any more.  They describe the family vacation, the successes of their children and the things their family has accomplished in the last year.  When my own family is struggling with financial problems, underemployment and unemployment, it can be discouraging to hear about how well others are doing.  

When I go to visit someone else and they have a pile of laundry on the couch waiting to be folded, dirty dishes in the sink waiting to be washed, and books or papers scattered across tables waiting to be read or put away, I am encouraged because someone else has a challenge getting everything done too.  A spotlessly clean house makes me feel discouraged because my house never looks like that.  My life doesn't go perfectly so it is good to know that others don't have perfect lives either.  

When writing your life story, don't make it sound too perfect.  Share the failures, the disappointments, the discouragements; but also share what was learned and how you coped with it.  When others are struggling, they may find hope in what you have written that somehow they can make it through their challenge too.

Give the Gift of Your Family Story

Giving gifts can be challenging when money is tight.  You want to make sure you give a gift that will be useful and appreciated.  Giving a gift that isn't needed and won't be used is no fun for the giver or the receiver.  Of course, just the fact that someone wanted to give a gift to you is a gift.  We should always appreciate gifts that are given to us even if they aren't useful.

Giving a gift of your family's story can be a way to give a useful gift.  The gift might not be as appreciated at the present time as you may like, but it has a way of increasing in value.  After my sister's death, I valued anything she had written such as entries on a calendar of what she had done.  Many of her belongings became valuable to me and I have hung on to them for all these years.  I have so many questions I would ask my parents if they were still alive.  I would love to ask my grandparents and my great grandparents questions about their lives.  When I learn more about their lives, I learn more about my own.  I begin to see answers to why I am the way I am from things I learn about them.  I hope sharing family stories with my daughters will help them understand themselves more as well as learn about their ancestors.

You probably wouldn't have time to give a completed biography of every one of your ancestors (unless you've been working on it for a long time already) as a gift to each of your family members this year, but you can give a little bit of your family story.  You can give photos.  You can create an album or a scrapbook.  You can create a video with photos.  You can do a video interview of an older family member.  You can copy audio or video recordings with family members who have passed away.  You can write down some stories from your family and add related photos to the stories.  You can share a favorite recipe from a family member.  Some of these things would cost very little to share.  Others would take more of an investment mostly of time, but each could be a unique gift that may be treasured for years.

Consider sharing your family story as a special Christmas gift this year.

Parable about Life

When I saw this video, I thought how true it is of life.  When you are writing your life story maybe it will help to remember this parable.  Life is not easy and we all have challenges, but there is a purpose to life.  Hopefully as you write your story you will see the purpose in your life.

Another question for your story:

How did you heat your home?

Heat in the winter time is a pretty important thing.  Different sources of heat are used.  When you were young what kind of heat did you have in your home?  What kind of heat do you have now in your home?  Did you have to work at having heat such as gathering wood and building a fire?  Or did you just turn up the thermostat to have heat?
When I was young we had a coal burning furnace.  It had a hopper which when filled completely would keep a fire burning for hours.  One of our chores as kids was to fill the hopper with coal.  The coal was in small round chunks that we shoveled into a bucket in the coal bin and then dumped into the hopper.  The coal would burn down into clinkers which had to be removed from the furnace firebox.  You didn't want to forget to fill the hopper if it was your turn.  If you forgot, the house would fill with smoke when the furnace ran out of coal.  Then everyone in the family would have to sit outside and wait for the smoke to clear out of the house.
I also learned the hard way to remember that the poker for removed the clinkers would get hot.  I accidentally let the poker touch the top of my foot.  That taught me to be much more cautious when working around the furnace.
I did enjoy the warm heat from the furnace.  It had a blower and the heat was blown through ducts into each room.  I liked to stick my feet over the side of my bed where the vent was and let them get really warmed up.  If you had wet clothes, they could dry quickly when hung over the vent.  If the power went out, the furnace still produced heat.  It just couldn't be blown throughout the house.  You had to stay close to the furnace to stay warm.  
Unfortunately burning coal leaves a fine layer of soot on the walls and ceilings, so every spring we got to wash down the walls and ceilings.  
Today I live in an all electric house.  Each room has radiant heaters in the ceilings.  I just turn on the thermostat and the heaters start to work.  I have a wood burning fireplace which gives very nice heat, but it is a lot of work to build and keep a fire going.
Write down what you did for heat throughout your life.  Write down what you liked about your source of heat and what you didn't like.  Write down what you did when your source of heat wasn't working.  Write down what source of heat your grandparents had.  Even the every day things like heat add to your story.

 
 

How Have Local Tragedies Affected Your Family?

When you write your story include how local tragedies affect your family or friends.

I didn't know anyone personally involved with the Reno Air Races Tragedy, but one of my daughters works close to where the Races are held.  Another daughter had a couple of friends who were there at the Races though fortunately were not hurt.  Many people are affected, if not first hand, through the people they know.  When the Amtrak wreck occurred a few months ago, some friends were driving behind the truck that crashed into the train.  Having a four wheel drive vehicle, they were able to help transport some of the victims from the crash site.

Although tragedies are hard to deal with, they do affect our lives.  We are who we are because of all of our experiences whether good or bad.  Recording how tragedies have affected us can be an important part of our story.

If you would like to express your condolences to victims of the Reno Air Races Tragedy you can do so at this site.

What Do You Remember About Thunder Storms?

Here's another question for your life story:

What Do You Remember About Thunder Storms?

Thunder and lightning have always been frightening to me.  I want to be inside and protected.  I'm glad they don't happen too often where I live and where I have lived.

I remember a thunderstorm one summer day when we were having a 4-H club cooking class.  We had mixed up a batch of  muffins when the power went out.  Our leader had an electric oven so we weren't going to be able to cook them.  She got on the phone and called her mother-in-law who had a coal-burning cookstove still in her kitchen.  We learned how to bake in a coal-burning cookstove that one time.  I've never had the opportunity to cook that way again, but I did learn an appreciation for grandparents and great grandparents who cooked that way all the time.

I know my parents were more aware of the weather and changes that might be coming than I am.  My father knew to get his tractor back home as soon as it looked like there might be a thunderstorm coming so he wouldn't be got out in an open field.  I remember he talked about flash floods that could sweep down a wash rapidly from a thunderstorm up in the mountains.  Of course the best part of thunderstorms is a beautiful rainbow at the end.

I think it would be interesting to read about how my ancestors who were pioneers dealt with thunderstorms.  I am sure it could be a scary experience when you are traveling across the plains with just a covered wagon or a handcart.  Since I would like to know more about their lives, perhaps some day someone will want to know more about my life.  Some day someone may want to know what you experienced and how you coped with challenges.  Write down your experiences to share with someone who may be interested in the future.

What Were You Doing When You Heard About 9/11 Ten Years Ago?

Here is another question for your life story:

What were you doing when you heard about 9/11 ten years ago?

Historical events do affect our lives.  Ten years ago 9/11 was one of those events that as an American citizen you could not ignore.  The reporting of it was every where--on television, on radio, on the internet, in the newspapers and everyone was talking about it.  Where were you when you learned about it.  What did you think when you first heard.  How did your life change after it.
I didn't really pay attention to news headlines; and, although I saw the news headlines online, I didn't pay much attention to it.  When I went to work in the afternoon, the television was on.  The director of the museum where I worked was watching the reports.  That is when I found out what happened.  My daughter at school found out long before I did.  The teachers had told them what to do in case there was an attack locally.  The students were fearful of what might happen.
Now a decade later our lives have been changed.  Security alerts happen.  More security has been put in place at airports to the point of removing any rights of privacy for those who fly.  We are more fearful and less trusting because of what happened.
Write down what you felt when you heard about 9/11.  Write down how it affects your life now.  Write down you feelings about how the world is different now.  Recording how this tragedy affected you can be an important part of your life story.