Reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides which doesn’t sound like a very Christmas-y book (it’s not), but it IS all about family and history.
It got me thinking about how easy it is to lose our family history – sadly, it often only takes one generation. For instance, I hardly know anything about my grandparents! I’ve decided to give my parents journals from Bella and Christian in which they can write memories of growing up in Korea. So right now (besides stuffing stockings…) I am concocting a list of starter sentences that will act as writing prompts throughout the journal. The journal for my mom will be slightly different than the journal for my dad – but here’s one list of writing prompts:
My name is Sang Nam Lee. I am your grandfather.
I was born in…
The night I was born…
When I was born, my parents lived on an apple farm. I was my parents second son. My older brother was named…
I remember that he used to…
Everybody said that he…
I had two sisters too. Their names are Sang Eh and Sang Won.
I remember that Sang Eh liked….
She was known for…
Once she..
I remember that Sang Won liked….
She was known for…
Once she..
The house we lived in was…
My favorite thing about the house was that…
I’ll always remember that…
My earliest memory is…
My mom was a great cook. She used to make…
I remember that my mom…
This is what I know about my grandparents (my mom’s parents):
My dad was…
One thing people always said about my father…
He was good at…
This is what I know about my grandparents (my father’s parents):
This is what I know about his life:
When I was a kid, I was really good at…
Once, I…
When I grew up I thought I would…
I wanted to live…
My favorite thing to do with my friends was to…
In the summer…
In the fall…
In the winter…
In the spring…
My favorite holiday was…
I started school when I was…
My school was…
I got there by…
My favorite part of the school day was…
Sometimes…
After school I would…
The part I didn’t like about school was…
For lunch I would eat…
One teacher I remember is…
My favorite thing to do outside was…
The Korean War started and…
I remember that…
We had to leave my house because…
When I was a teenager I…
Once I got sick and…
I remember that…
I served in the military as all Korean boys are required to do. I did my service as…
I thought it was…
Once…
When it was finished, I…
I went to college…
I remember that…
My closest friends were…
I liked them because…
When I went to medical school, I often…
While in school, I made money by…
I lived at…
When I would visit my mother and sisters, they would…
We would always…
When I met your grandmother for the first time, I remember that she…
I remember that her parents…
My family was…
I decided to specialize in radiation oncology because…
When I married your grandmother, the ceremony was…
I remember when your mother was born…
We were living…
I decided to move to the United States because…
I decided to stay because…
What I remember about Columbus, Ohio was…
I remember when your uncle Songbae was born…
He was…
What I remember about Chicaco, Illinois was…
I remember when Sue Emo was born…
She…
I’d always hoped to have ______ children.
We moved to Virginia, to the Perry Penny Drive townhouse because…
We moved to the Rockville house in…
What I liked best about living in that house…
I liked being close to Washington DC because…
We went on lots of family camping trips. Once I remember…
When your mom was little she was…
Sometimes she would…
I always thought she would…
When your uncle Songbae was little he was…
Sometimes he would…
I always thought he would…
When your Sue Emo was little she was…