1.1 - Box It and Bag It (What Is All This Stuff?)

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Get started stirring memories of your life by digging into what you already have.

Photo albums, letters, journals, mementos will help you do this.

 

1.  Photos – Look through photos from your childhood through present day. A picture is worth a thousand words. Choose a picture, or pictures, from the times, people, and places of your life that may not say a thousand words but may stir memories of that time. Put the photos in a file folder.

Possible stages

• childhood

• school (pre, elementary, middle, high)

• college

• work life

• friends 

• family

• other stages specific and important to you​

 

2.  Letters, journals, cards, mementos – You may not have every birthday card or letter you received or every t-shirt or fridge magnet you bought, but you probably saved some because they are memories of a special time or event. Choose some and put the items in a box or bag.

Possible items

• greeting cards

• postcards

• diary or journal

• letters

• t-shirts

• posters

• ash trays, fridge magnets, knick-knacks

• DVDs, CDs

• your first pay stub or first dollar earned

• your first driver’s license

• your birth certificate or marriage license

• a name tag from a job

• a rosary, a prayer book

• a report card

• a hospital patient ID bracelet

• a baseball

• a team jersey

• a video of your prom, graduation, wedding

Put the photos, letters, journals, cards, mementos, and objects in the box for later use. Having all these together will make them easier to access for future memory jogs.

 

1. WRITE ABOUT SOME PHOTOS.

After a few days or weeks, (whatever works for you), sort through the photos and pull out four or five that spark some memory or emotion in you and compose a few sentences detailing that memory or emotion. Whether you write it out in longhand, type it into a computer, or record it on a voice recorder or other device is up to you. What’s important is that you get your ideas down.

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Example

Here’s a photo from my childhood of my two older brothers and me in our Easter outfits.

I labeled it 3 Kids at Easter.

                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the sentences I wrote.

I spent most of my kid days dressed in a shirt, jeans, and sneakers, as did my two brothers, Richie and Teddy. But Easter was different. We are Catholic and Polish, so the holiday had to be special. It meant my mom would take us to the store—Robert Hall’s or E.J. Korvette’s—a week or so before Easter Sunday and buy us new outfits. For me that meant a new dress, spring coat, little handbag, shoes, and, of course, an Easter Bonnet. For my brothers it meant a new pair of dress pants, sport jacket, shirt, tie, shoes, and a new hat. This photo is particularly fun for me to see because of the hats my brothers are wearing. You must understand that they both were athletes 24/7. Wearing dressy clothes was different enough. But for two kids who wore baseball hats whenever they went outside, those gangster fedoras they’re rocking are definitely a fashion risk!

 

2. WRITE ABOUT SOME LETTERS, JOURNALS, CARDS, MEMENTOS

After a few more days or weeks, (whatever works for you), sort through the letters, journals, cards, mementos and pull out four or five that spark some memory or emotion and write or record a few sentences detailing that memory or emotion.

Over the course of a few days or weeks, take one object out of the bag at a time and tell the significance of each object by writing a paragraph or two or by using a voice recorder to record your story. Save the stories

Here’s one. This photo of a hospital ID bracelet reminded me of my son’s stay at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania and brought back memories of his stay there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Example

Here’s the paragraph to go along with it.

One of my sons has tuberous sclerosis, a disorder that affects the body’s organs. When he was fifteen, he had severe pain in his back and blood in his urine. After an ER visit, he was sent home and told to keep an eye on things. When the problem reoccurred a few weeks later on Friday of Memorial Day weekend, he was diagnosed with a tumor on his kidney. The doctors sent my son to ChOP. My husband accompanied him, but I stayed home thinking the visit would be short and uneventful like the previous one. But this time it was more serious and the doctors decided embolization of the tumor was needed. Because of the holiday, the A team was not on duty, so the attending doctors decided to wait a day or two for them to return. My husband called to tell me that, so I planned to make the trip to Philly the next day.

I asked my neighbor, Steve, to drive me to Philly. When we arrived, I found my son being attended to by a nurse. My husband told me that the doctors decided to do the embolization the night before because they thought waiting might result in kidney damage. He didn’t tell me at the time because he figured I couldn’t get to the hospital in time and he didn’t want to worry me. The ID bracelet is from that hospital stay.

After doing this exercise for four or five objects, your memories should be stirred. Take a break with a snack and a refreshing beverage, look over what you’ve gathered, and enjoy the memories. Then, take a moment to list and either write or record five or ten things that are unique about you. Save the list.

 

What You Have Accomplished:

• Looked at old photos and chose one or two from each stage of your life.

• Looked at letters, cards, journals, mementos & chose a few that elicit memories.

• Gathered objects from times of your life

• Told the story of about ten of these photos, mementos, objects.

Reading published memoirs is a great next step. Get inspiration from what others have written. Then get ready to delve deeper into how you became that unique you.