Faithful Times

During the last quarter of 2020 my memoir draft is complete. I’ve sent it to my editor, and she expect to have it completed in May. I’m currently working on the title. Sometimes a title is obvious to me, but this time I couldn’t immediately come up with a catchy one. I’m thinking of my life’s driving force being my family’s well-being. I enjoyed examining my family’s social status, religious upbringing, the men who were inspirational, my education and my international career.

I also appreciated reading Educated by Tara Westover. In her early adult life, the ensuing struggles she endured was heart rendering. It was her education that helped her scale the dreaded walls of isolation and family waring.

My interest in a memoir happened when my daughter, Jessica, invited Prudence and I and some of her close friends to share a weekend in San Francisco discussing her early childhood that she had little memory of. Having those frank discussions brought me to my knees a couple of times as I shared my parental role and challenges. Recalling Jessie’s life, it was wonderful to be surrounded by the people that love me and I them.

I fell in love with the writing process but not educated in it. I started the endeavor as a fluke in high school writing contests, then as personal therapy in my early twenties when I went through my divorce during college. I picked up writing again in my international business traveling from one country to another one as a form of keeping my mind active during the long flights. Writing my observations in airports led to writing short stories, then novels with Prudence’s encouragement. In my current stage of life called retirement I have found my next career as a full-time novelist.

I’d like all of my siblings to read my memoir. You will find events that you remember differently. That’s okay and expected with ten unique people but all part of the same family. To make this personally interesting I’d like to have each of you write something that you remember about growing up in the family. It can be another interpretation of an event or something that has struck you over the years to add to the Abeln saga. What’s the purpose of this? The memoir becomes something more than a memoir. It becomes a story of a family that you are part of and, most importantly, all of the siblings still enjoy getting together. That is a unique part of our lives, isn’t it? Then you can give this book to your children and your grandchildren; it gives them a glimpse of what it was like to grow up in a very large family. A living document where they came from.