Memorabilia, The Archives in Our Memoir

It's Guest Friday, and here's Dorothy Ann Skarles with more tips and examples for your memoir.

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By Viterxo13

Memories are quick flashes of past reflections or specific things remembered, like when my son came home and told me he needed fifty dollars to fix his truck.

"You do, do you?" I said, and suddenly recalled how I got my very first fifty dollar bill.

I was in high school, and the school bus dropped me off at my daddy's and mama’s restaurant where we had living quarters.

It was late afternoon, past serving lunch, when I walked in. Daddy, standing behind the counter by the cash register, smiled and asked, "Ready to count the days cash?"

I saw ones, fives, tens, and twenties all lined up in a row in neat piles.  "Sure."

As I began to count, Daddy suddenly pulled out a bill from the cash register and waved it in the air.

By Krug6


"Quick! If you can tell me whose picture is on a fifty dollar bill, I’ll give it to you," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"General Grant," I shouted so quickly I hardly knew what I said.

Daddy, laughing, slapped the bill down on the counter in front of me. "Pumpkin, it’s all yours."

Dashing off abridged memories is still part of you and your memoir. Make these small moments in time a chapter in the long version of your memoir.

Like the time my husband and I told our young son we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.  He looked out the window and said, "No we’re not! I don’t see any gold gate." This is a story I’ve saved for him to read in my own memoir.

So dash off a tiny-sized memory you can save to give to your family.

1. Did you or someone else do something outrageous or quirky in high school?
2. Something funny a family member did while you were with them?
3. Anything happen that was odd while you were dating or getting married?
4. Do you remember any funny things children did and said—when meeting someone, going to school or at a birthday party?
5. Did anyone ever give you a ten, twenty, fifty, or hundred dollar bill you didn’t expect?

And how about my high school son who needed 50 dollars to fix his truck. I asked him if he knew whose picture was on the fifty dollar bill, and he didn’t. Bet if you asked him now he would!

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Thanks Dorothy!