Post #66 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir and Moving
If it’s Tuesday, it must be memoir writing prompt day at Women’s Memoirs. By now, most of you know that my husband and I are moving from California to Oregon to live closer to two of our four sons as well as our two grandchildren, ages 5 and 8. Since my last writing prompt, inspired during a quick trip to Boston last week, we have had movers back to finish the packing. We hoped they would finish on Saturday so that we could leave by noon Sunday. But no, they worked all of Sunday as well. We aimed for a Monday noon departure. At 12, I thought we would almost make it. A cleaning crew was doing the final vacuuming and mopping as well as cleaning of the refrigerator. I was at the post office turning in a “mail hold” form. I had already been to the bank to put a stop on my automatic mortgage payments (don’t try doing that on the phone, no human answers). My last stop was the UPS office to mail Kendra a box of our ever-popular Rosie the Riveter Legacy Bandanas (designed after we wrote our collective memoir, Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story).
Then (and you knew there would either be a “but” or a “then”) I received a phone call from our real estate agent. The buyers’ loan docs still were not in although the bank insists there are no problems. The issue is that the buyers need to be in today to begin some work they will be doing. The buyers are a lovely couple with three sons so we want to help facilitate their move. But all of this meant more paperwork at the title company that had to be signed.
Well, I won’t bore you with the rest of the details except to say that around 8:30PM, with new signed papers, five more boxes to UPS to ship to Oregon since they would not fit in our car, a quick dinner of vegetable soup made by a neighbor for us (eaten out of a plastic container with plastic spoons she provided), final sorting and consolidating of the remaining boxes in the garage, loading the car (in true Okie fashion), and then a final sweeping of the garage, we were on our way.
We had the fun of calling each of our sons in Oregon to let them know that we were on the road. One son said, “How long have you been driving?”
I responded, “About three minutes.”
“Where are you spending the night?”
“In Morgan Hill.”
He laughed. Morgan Hill is the first town north of Gilroy, where we’ve lived for the past 13 years. He turned to his partner and said, “They’re stopping in Morgan Hill. At that rate, they’ll make it as far as San Jose tomorrow.”
Obviously, we plan on a long day as we will all share a Thanksgiving meal in Eugene.
So Where’s the Memoir Writing Prompt?
Okay. There must be a writing prompt in here. At this point, my head is still full of the details of the move. But during the preparation for the move, when I was sorting, I thought of a fun writing prompt. Over the span of about two hours, I found all kinds of watches that I’ve worn over the years. Each one had a story and I never could throw them away, even when they no longer worked. I have the beautiful Omega watch that my husband gave me on our first anniversary. He knew that as a professional, I’d need a timepiece that was both elegant and functional. I wore it for many years, loving its thin black strap that fit my wrist so perfectly. But it always needed to be repaired and eventually I felt I was putting too much money into it. Another watch was given to me by Kendra. This was a fun watch — you remember the era of talking watches and watches with miniature video games. The plastic band broke years ago but I still love having this keepsake. Besides, the video game still works.
Each watch reminds me of an era in my life and even in technology. When my husband gave me that first watch, Nolan Bushnell had not even invented Pong, the first primitive video game. Yet, it wasn’t all that long before video games were a part of our vocabulary.
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Look around your home or in some of your treasure drawers.
2. Find a few objects that speak to you. They could all be in the same category, such as my watches, or they must be in different categories.
3. Write for five or ten minutes, giving the story of each item. They are more than “stuff” and “things” when they relate to our lives. Write about objects that have positive memories. This will help you feel good and get started writing today.
From the Road,
Matilda
