Quite some time ago, I decided to take on the Herculean task of writing a memoir. You’d think, during our mandatory stay at home orders, I’d have spent the time writing like a fiend. But you would be wrong.
Every night Bob and I are shocked that another day has flown by. You’d think the days would be crawling by with nothing to do but stay home and take care of Brett.
And every night I go to bed berating myself for not accomplishing one earthly thing. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I did start reading books about how to write a memoir. What it should include and not include, how it should have a singular theme (not just a collection of stories), how many words it needs to be (at least 80,000) and on and on. It’s all been very disheartening, and I’ve been tempted to throw in the towel, or at least not call it a memoir. I’m not disciplined enough. Goodness, I can’t even stick to my goal of writing a short blog once a week.
But a few things have kept me from abandoning my dream of writing, maybe not a memoir...but something. One has been the encouragement from friends. Another came from a writer we met during our week at Joni & Friends. She interviewed us for an article. And, lo and behold, Joni & Friends used our story for one of their brochures. Very cool. When I told her how much I loved to write and was thinking about writing a memoir she said, “Do it! Your story needs to be told. And when you finish it, I’d be happy to proofread it for you.” You’d think that would have lit a fire under my fanny. But no, almost a year later and I’m still in the pondering stage.
A singular theme? At least 80,000 words?!? Not a collection of stories? I can accept the first two, but I don’t agree with it not being a collection of stories. Life is a collection of stories. Stories about wrong turns, embarrassing moments, unexpected characters, heartbreaking loss and unspeakable joy. All of it used by God to mold me more and more into the image of His son.
Even though I’ve spent infinitely more time laughing with Bob than crying, when I sat down to write about our first year of marriage I couldn’t think of a single funny moment. I wrote down the first story that popped into my mind. It didn’t shed Bob in the best light. Not surprisingly, when I read it to him, he didn’t like it. Here’s how our conversation went, verbatim.
“Well, jeez! I thought you were going to write about redemption. About Brett and the difference he’s made in our lives.”
“It is about redemption! It’s about what monsters we were and how God is making us less and less monstrous every day. It was just by chance that one of your monster moments came to mind first.”
How’s that for eloquence? Maybe I can entitle it, “A Treatise on Becoming Less Monstrous.”
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you [us], will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
