Memoir
/ˈmemˌwär/ noun. a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation. Usually memoirs. an account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiography. the published record of the proceedings of a group or organization, as of a learned society.
About a year ago I purchased my Mom a subscription to a service called Storyworth. Once you subscribe this company will send you one question per week and at the end of a year they’ll compile all of your answers into a beautifully bound book that can be passed down through the generations of your family.
Being the administrator for my Mom’s Storyworth account I’ve been able to pick upcoming questions and see her answers after she writes them. As I’ve been doing this over the past year I’ve realized how incredibly valuable writing a memoir is. Not only does it allow you to share your stories and relive past memories but it also teaches you a lot about yourself in the process, things that may have otherwise forever resided in your blindspots.
A few weeks ago I bought myself a Storyworth subscription and over the course of the next year I’ll be writing my own memoir, mainly as a tool for self-growth. I decided just a few days after starting to work on this that I’d share my experiences along the way with my readers on Hive.
Next comes the fun part...
Memoir Monday. I’m going to be posting a question every Monday for the next year prompting anyone who wants to join in to write their own blockchain-based memoir for future generations to read!
All you have to do is take the memoir prompt question I post on Monday and answer it in your own Hive post. Be sure to tag your post with #memoirmonday. In a year from now you’ll have a legitimate memoir that you can pass along to future generations of your family. But what I really hope is it provides a valuable glimpse into your inner self. We’ll all get to learn more about each other and, hopefully, ourselves each week.
“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” –Philip Pullman
I hope you’ll join me in this initiative. The questions will all be very simple so if you’re participating feel free to write as much or as little as you’d like. Also, remember you have the entire week to answer the Memoir Monday prompt. New prompt questions will drop each Monday for the next twelve months.
Here’s the very first Memoir Monday question:
What store did you love to go to as a child?
Here’s my answer:
What store did you love to go to as a child?
I used to love going to the Yankee Trader store in downtown Columbus when I was a small child. I grew up seeing all of the ads for pranks like — whoopie cushions, joy buzzers, and squirting lapel flowers in the back of comic books and Yankee Trader sold all of this stuff. Yankee Trader was full of oddities and fun things, I don’t think there are many stores left like it.
My childhood friend Kevin Gales and I would ride the COTA bus downtown on school holidays or during summer vacation in the morning and would spend the day riding the bus up Broad Street and then transfer to the High Street route. We would stop in Lazarus department store, always ate lunch at McDonald’s, and were thrilled to ride the glass elevator that ran on the outside of the Nationwide building near the Ohio Center. None of these trips were complete without a trip to Yankee Trader. This was back in the early 1980’s, when the Short North was still “gritty”. The neighborhood has a completely different vibe today.
Rules for Participation
- Please reblog this first post and share on other social platforms so we cast the widest net possible for this initiative;
- Pictures paint a thousand words. Include pictures in your posts if you have them;
- Answer each Memoir Monday prompt question in your own post. The prompt question will be published each Monday but you'll have the entire week to answer and publish your own post; and
- Lastly, be sure to include the tag #memoirmonday.
It's as simple as that!
At the end of this next twelve months we'll have created something immensely valuable together. It's so important to know our "whys" in life and there's no better way to do that than this.
Someday all that will be left of our existence are memories of us, our deeds, and words. It's up to you to leave as rich of a heritage as possible for future generations to learn from. So, go ahead, tell your stories! I can't wait to read them.
Enjoy the day. Thank you for reading!
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What a fantastic idea this is! @ericvancewalton
Yankee Trader didn't ring a bell but when you mentioned Spencers, I knew exactly the type of mall store you were referred to. I remember buying "naughty" and gag gifts for friends and family especially for milestone birthdays. The stores had an adult area sorta sectioned off that my daughter and her friends would to try walking through without getting caught; however, the girls' snickers and giggles always busted them!😊
Thanks for the fun memories, Eric!
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So glad you think so!
Yes, it was very similar to Spencers but was a little like Party City too. They carried balloons and party decorations too. Yankee Trader wasn't nearly as "naughty" as Spencers is now though.
You're welcome, thanks for the support!
Such a wonderful idea! The part I enjoyed most going through the family archive was reading the few letters that I could find, precisely because they offered a glimpse of the life of my parents and grandparents.
I already know the answer to your first question :)
Thank you, Rebecca. I was so excited when the idea came to me for this. I don't remember being this psyched about a blog since the old Steemit days. It was great to feel that again.
I can't imagine how cool it would have been to read your grandparents letters. It really is like time traveling if you think about it. So often people don't get the urge to write down their memories until it's too late but it's such a valuable thing for subsequent generations to learn from. I can't imagine how valuable it would have been for us to have journals from people who lived through the Spanish Flu epidemic during the Covid lockdowns. Can't wait to read your first memoir installment! Future questions will have a little more substance than this one but these kinds of questions are good too, just to tap into the memory banks.
How are you dear friend @ericvancewalton good afternoon
How interesting that you bought your mother a Storyworth registration and that you as an administrator can read her responses.
I love the #memoirmonday idea, especially because you are leaving a memory saved on the web forever that future generations can read.
I think many people are going to join the initiative.
have a beautiful afternoon
Good morning! Thank you and I too hope it catches on! Have a wonderful week my friend.
That's such a lovely idea, Eric! Honestly, that Story program sounds lovely too, I'll definitely check it out. Till then, though, looking forward to participating in this. Does the post have to come out on Mondays?
Thank you! Storyworth is a wonderful thing. I so wish I would have done this for my Dad before his Alzheimer's progressed too much. As the disease was progressing so many of his old memories were unlocked, he told us so many stories we'd never heard.
The prompt will be published every Monday but you have the entire week to write your post. Thanks for asking, I've clarified this in the instructions above. I'm so glad you'll be joining in!
What a nice initiative Eric! I was wondering how your Mom's writing is doing, and how she is coping with being on her own?
I'll be participating for sure, I love the first question!
Thanks! She hasn't answered a question for a really long time but I'm hoping since I've joined and am participating too that she'll start again. She's adjusted to living alone pretty well but still misses my Dad. She has a small group of friends in her 55+ community and they communicate regularly and sit outside when weather permits. Her sister is living in the community now too so they run errands together and visit. I'm glad you're going to participate! Thank you my friend!
This is so beautiful, Eric. I'm imagining how it would be for yourself and your children to read the answers your Mom will provide. It's such a beautiful way of capturing and recording these moments while we can still remember them. Looking forward to participating.🌺
Thank you! This is the kind of thing that will become more valuable with each new generation that reads it. So glad to hear you'll be taking part in this!
This is a great idea! I'll participate. Gonna start right now, but can't get great pictures for it because I am out of town for week. Oh well. Thanks for initiating this concept. It's a really good one.
I appreciate it! Awesome, I'm glad you'll be joining us! I hope you're someplace fun. : )
That's a pretty awesome idea. I've been down on some of those streets you mention several times. We never had a store like this, but I know what you are talking about. I might end up being a week behind if I participate in some of these since I get my Monday post out pretty early! I'm looking forward to reading yours though!
Thanks, it's been a while since I've done something like this so I thought it'd be fun. I remember a chain of stores in local malls called "Spencers" that used to be similar to Yankee Trader. I think there are still some Spencers locations still in business, probably in larger cities. Oh cool! I'm glad you'll be participating. Future questions will have a little more gravity than this first one did.
Oh yes, I know Spencer's for sure. It's not something I grew up with, but when we finally got a mall in the town where I live they had one there. I remember there was some pretty risque stuff in there so my parents were pretty opposed to me going in there.
Yes, it's super risque now but wasn't quite as bad in the late 70's. They've definitely dialed up the sex a whole lot since then.
Interesting.
I will be more than happy to that every monday. In fact, I am really looking for this kind of stuff. Over a period of time, this will have essence and efflorescence of its own just like WINE.
I apprecite this effort, it will certainly restore those momeries and preserve the memories as well.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for participating!
Memoir, this will quite be the first time I will be hearing about this idea though. It is great to actually see
It couldn't be said better.
I'm skipping this week but actually it would be fun to participate ) Nice idea
I really connected with that quote too. Thanks, I hope you find the time to join in! I hope you're having a good week.
Thank you, Eric ❤️
You're welcome!
This is nice, something different from all the initiatives we have here. In participating in this I think I will be able to look deep.
Thanks for coming up with this Eric.
You're welcome, Tammy. I'm looking forward to reading your posts!
Once in a while I still catch a few glimpses on the blockchain and your posts catching me the most as usual 🌹
What a beautiful and inspiring project you got going here....
Sharing lots of gratitude after very difficult years fixing my health.
Next destination will be Zanzibar 😊 for the winter
Lots of love your way! I still have your present standing on my shelf
Thank you @mammasitta! I'm glad they're still catching your interest. Hive has changed so much, hasn't it? This project has been, by far, the most rewarding one yet.
I'm glad your healing is successful. I know you've gone through a lot. It's so great to hear you're traveling again. We hope to get back to it soon. We've been grounded now for about a year.
Lots of love to you too. I'll always remember the excitement of 2016-7 that we all shared. They were definitely life altering.
Enjoying to read your reply!
I be back.....Haahhh I said it so many times already but meanwhile I need to learn again how to write a blog 😜
Here is a photo from my last trip to Stonetown!
I fell in love with Afrika.....
❤️
🌹
That's a great idea for a service. That's one of the great things about the internet—all these cool ideas like this service.
I'll have to think about my answer to that question. I don't really know offhand. I don't think we had a Yankee Trader in Muncie Indiana. I can't recall any store like that. I remember seeing stores like that in movies and wishing we had one that I could visit. The closest thing we might have gotten were the school festivals we had once a year that would sell things like that. I always looked forward to those events for my one chance to buy trick gum, whoopie cushions, and things like that.
It’s such a great thing, especially for older relatives. These stores are growing few and far between in the US but I saw a few of them in London when we were there a few years ago.
Thank you @ericvancewalton for this initiative, here's my entry;
https://ecency.com/hive-161155/@edith-4angelseu/down-memory-lane
Thanks so much for participating!
This is a good idea indeed, it will relive the memories and keep them written down for future reference
this is an wonderful idea, and I would love to participate in it. i will try to share this with my friends too, so they can participate as well. thank you for this initiative ❤️
You're welcome! The more, the merrier!
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Oh. That sounds like a wonderful idea. I may join in later but, sadly, it's too much for me to take on now. I'm on Day 23 of my own long term project although it's actually "only" 100 days, short compared to yours, but it's as much as I can do to keep that going.
I love the idea of a memoir though and I might come back and start at the first question at a later point. Or could I just join in at whatever point you're at when I have the time? is the order of the questinos significant? I imagine they are since the first one is about childhood.
That sounds awesome. These kinds of things really force you to write regularly, that's a great thing. For sure, you can join in at any time. The order of the questions is actually all over the place. There are lighter ones and ones that are more significant and I think they try to mix it up in that regard to keep it interesting for the person participating.
Oh. Interesting that they mix the order up. That's a good idea. I think the writing would be fresher that way.
For sure, the "lighter" prompts make it a little more fun for the participant and draws them into the process.
Wow! It's like something I have been wanting to do for a long time now, I love memories and this is what I have been waiting for. 🤗
These memories become so much more valuable as we get older! I think everyone should do this at different phases in their lives. So often people wait too late and their memory is failing or they don't have the desire to do it. I'm so glad you're participating!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate this noble initiative of yours and it has endeared itself to my heart.
When we get older, these memories in the vaults of our heart gives us a new dimension of Joy and for those who suffer dementia, it could be a link to the beautiful memories of the past.
Again I say thank you.
It is good to see that you are taking steps for self growth as that is one of the way that can help nurture growth. I am also working gradually on my self growth
#hive #posh
What an amazing idea. Usually I only see memories of my past through photos that I saved in the past. Have a nice day, Eric.
I hope you participate, Eliana! It would be great to read more about your life. Enjoy the day my friend!
Never heard of such a service, very meaningful :) Also, your choosing the questions creates the memory itself ;)
True!
What a great thought! I will definitely participate from next months. Because, my account't condition is not ok now. 😅
However, my answer for your today's question will be - toy store. 😁
The day after the holiday is much more special and exciting for the groom because again one is back to the routine for the whole week, so it is good that this time the week has started in the same way. Well done and we pray that the rest of the week is just as good.
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Oh that is a great idea, I never knew you could have a subscription.
Yes, it's a cool service and you get a hardbound book at the end of the twelve months. It'll be even better to have the memories on the blockchain. Hopefully Hive outlives all of us!
Talking about memories on the blockchain, I was looking at sensay recently, which is on Open Beta and aims to do just that, actually it is a digital companion aimed at helping dementia parents, I just wish something like that was around when my mother who had vascular dementia.
You might like Empower Memories with Sensay - Your AI Companion for Memory Preservation and I am busy researching it and will make a Hive post about it one day.
Wow, that is so interesting! I hope I catch your Hive post about it. My father had advanced Alzheimer's when he died of Covid in 2020.
Aww sorry to hear about your Dad. Yeah it looks interesting and launching a crypto coin either this week or next week, so yes am diving more in to it.
Thank you! I've already shared the site with a few other people. It looks super interesting. Thanks for sharing it.
Sharing on Twitter.
Monday is a special day in terms of work and after Sunday off, the mind is working well
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STOPGreat Initiative! @ericvancewalton
Life Kept me busy and I missed this wonderful initiative, but now I am following you and will write my entry ASAP;) Reblogging it and sharing it on Twitter ( X ).
Hey @ericvancewalton just a quick question, are you only allowed to Publish our post on Monday?
Waoh, this is an attractive initiative, it's once said that "A shot pencil is better than a long memory"
that is to say, it's far more better to write down experiences than thriving to remember them after a very long time.
Thank you, I will start writing mine every week.