Post #67 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir and Moving
If you’ve been following me over the past week, you know that we have sold our home in California and have now made our way to Corvallis, Oregon. Yesterday, only able to enjoy our life as nomads for less than a week, we moved into a short-term rental townhouse. We were immediately taken with it — compact and clearly easy to take care of. We began to conjure with the idea that we might buy a townhouse rather than a home. We looked on the Internet and even found one for sale in this complex, a premium one that backed onto a forested area.
Of course, once we had lugged boxes up to the second story, we started commenting on the stairs. It wasn’t all that bad and we figured it was healthy to go up and down all the time. However, after we also had assembled and carried up a large desk chair and a new glass-topped desk, the stairs began to take on a more ominous nature. They are quite steep and the tread is narrow, making it difficult to walk easily as there isn’t enough room to put down the heel.
Many years ago, we toured Robert Todd Lincoln’s home, Hildene, that is in Manchester, Vermont. Lincoln was chairman of Pullman Company and had the money to build a lovely Georgian Revival mansion. As we ascended the staircase to the second floor, our docent said, “Did you notice how easy it is to climb these stairs?” And it was true. The climb seemed effortless. She went on to point out that the best proportions for stairs are 1-to-2. The stairs we were on had 7 inch risers and 14 inch treads. In the years since then, when we built stairs down our hillside and when we replaced the stairs to our deck, we always used this rule.
Not really the stairs in our townhouse
The stairs in this townhouse definitely violated the 1-to-2 principle. Well, that seems like an aside, but stairs are a matter we have been discussing in terms of a home we buy. Corvallis has areas with hills, which of course means the views are better. The solution around here seems to be what I call “daylighted basements.” Of course, they aren’t basements, just first floors that are reached after going downstairs.
Do we want a lot of stairs at this point in our lives? We’re both healthy and active but what about in 20 years? We intend to still be healthy and active, but we might not enjoy stairs. We’re thinking it would be nice to have a single story home. Somehow our one-day experience with this townhouse made us especially sensitive to the homes we toured today.
So as I sat to provide a writing prompt, I immediately thought about stairs and hope you might have some fun with this one.
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Think about places in your life that have had steps. I remember as a child that I would tuck myself into the shadows of the second floor landing so that I could hear my parents’ guests when they arrived for a party. Were there stairs in your childhood home that you remember or that were the site of special games you played with friends or siblings?
Picture a specific scene that involves those stairs and write for five minutes. Were the stairs carpeted? What color? Who is in the scene? What happened? What time of day is it? Is this a happy or a sad memory?
2. Think about a trip you took that involved a climb of stairs — perhaps the only way to see a sight. I can easily recall our visit to Teotihuacan, pre-Columbian pyramids about 25 miles outside of Mexico City. The steps are incredibly steep, each riser at least a foot high with narrow treads. Clearly, the builder hadn’t heard about the 1-to-2 proportion. Even now I can remember the excitement of getting to the top, mingled with fear about the return. How would I ever get down.
Recall a trip where you had to walk an unusual number of steps. How did you feel physically? Did you have an emotional reaction? Did your emotions change as you claimed the stairs? Where did the stairs take you?
Writing, by the way, is a lot like stairs. We get to where we want to be by taking one step at a time. No leaping tall buildings in a single bound. However, we can get to any height we want by keeping ourselves moving. Memoir writing prompts, such as these, are designed to provide some fun and give you new ways to think about your surroundings and your life. Once you have been writing for five or ten minutes, put aside the prompt and continue with your own memoir writing, taking the next step on a vignette or a chapter.
Enjoy,
Matilda
For previous memoir blogs about our transition from California to Oregon:
Memoir: Days 5 & 6 of Life’s New Adventure – The Nomad
Memoir: Day 4 of Life’s New Adventure – A Moveable Feast
Memoir: Day 3 of Life’s New Adventure – Ours versus Theirs
Memoir: Day 2 of Life’s New Adventure – The Realization
Memoir Writing Prompt: Day 1 of Life’s New Adventure
