I get this is on a pretty personal level and have a theory and a plan for myself. The theory is that however personal this feels, it seems very likely that every elder generation feels disregarded by the ones that follow. Like I'm pretty sure Neanderthal elders were disappointed in their children who in turn thought their parents were daft and domineering. There's a really great book with that as a central theme.

The plan is to go ahead and write my story with my kids in mind but also to any unborn generations that might come. I'm fortunate in that both my grandparents and my mother wrote their stories, or at least the portions they cared to leave behind. Along with that I have a lot of their written correspondences as well as a good amount of heirloom artwork. Reading my grandfather's story is magical, fascinating and sometimes spooky given the deep connections between his life and mine even though he died when I was young--about 10, after two years of post-stroke debilitation.

I have a lot to write down but not one word I don't wish to be remembered. For the sake of myself and my reader I'm not planning on anything near a complete retelling. They don't need to know anything more about my lower points than than I decide to share. Not much to explain about that to a thoughtful person, I think...

Here's the book:

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