My thoughts about how to live the fourth quarter portion of my life have gradually evolved over the last five years – all from a writing perspective.
When Pam and I joined The Pillars of Prospect Park (PoPP), a senior living community in Minneapolis, in July 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, I thought there was potential in becoming a scribe for community residents, helping them to write and publish their memoirs.
The pandemic forced an artificial separation among our PoPP community members, so interaction was somewhat limited, but, during those difficult first months of separation, I kept hearing terrific personal stories about lives well lived from our residents.
That prompted me to review my own personal stories about living with a disability and to frame them as fiction from an older adult perspective with discussion questions to encourage reader participation – a gateway to memoir writing for readers.
Now, five years later, “52 Shades of Graying” still provides meaningful prompts for memoir writing. And, it has evolved into an audio-and-text online resource for those who seek to understand and rise above ageism as well as ableism so they can continue to pursue a fourth-quarter life of transcendence and purpose.
* What incident spurred a change in your thoughts about how you want to live your fourth-quarter life?
My thoughts about how to live the fourth quarter portion of my life have gradually evolved over the last five years – all from a writing perspective.
When Pam and I joined The Pillars of Prospect Park (PoPP), a senior living community in Minneapolis, in July 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, I thought there was potential in becoming a scribe for community residents, helping them to write and publish their memoirs.
The pandemic forced an artificial separation among our PoPP community members, so interaction was somewhat limited, but, during those difficult first months of separation, I kept hearing terrific personal stories about lives well lived from our residents.
That prompted me to review my own personal stories about living with a disability and to frame them as fiction from an older adult perspective with discussion questions to encourage reader participation – a gateway to memoir writing for readers.
Now, five years later, “52 Shades of Graying” still provides meaningful prompts for memoir writing. And, it has evolved into an audio-and-text online resource for those who seek to understand and rise above ageism as well as ableism so they can continue to pursue a fourth-quarter life of transcendence and purpose.
* What incident spurred a change in your thoughts about how you want to live your fourth-quarter life?