Time...to Remember & Record

I saw my dad last week, for the first time since February 2020. In an effort to keep him safe, I have sacrificed precious time with him. He is 85 years old, he's seen a lot in his lifetime, but nothing like this pandemic and all the fall out. He is mostly at peace with his exposure risk. He wants to live his life, see his friends and his family. He wants to walk and get his coffee every morning, so he does. Because he knows that time is precious and is to be lived. 

He called me today to tell me how much he loves my book. I delivered him a copy when I saw him. He loved all the memories I had recorded and he loved that it sparked his own memories. As I shared the book with my sister and my dad, we both thought how lovely it would be to do an A to Z memory book about our Nana, my dad's mom. And that we could gather memories from my dad's sister and her two kids who grew up in the same duplex with my grandparents. And then I thought, I want an A to Z memory book about my dad's life and his memories. I want all the memories, recorded and preserved. But time is not my friend right now. Many people have more time in this pandemic. And then others, like me, have less. We have kids home and yet still work the same or more hours from home. I am facilitating first grade most of the week and on the weekend I'm lucky if I can carve out some time for myself to do nothing or to be creative. So when would I find the time to record all of this and to really honor it. Well the solution might be that I need to spend my time finishing the A to Z Workbook so that I can send them to friends and family and share the process. So that we can all record our stories and share them. Or take the time to record our memories of a loved one that we all want to remember. 

I am struggling to find the time to finish the workbook but I am reinspired by my dad's experience with the book. That just by reading it, memories bubble up. And for many people, there is more time right now to pause and remember and record. I read that the truest way to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not to say "Rest In Peace" but rather to say "May her memory be a blessing". And that is at the heart of this project, may our memory be a blessing.