For my wife’s 30th birthday I designed a newspaper called The Best Times and got it printed by the wonderful Newspaper Club. In it, I wrote 30 of my most cherished memories from our relationship so far.
What started out as a gift for her turned out to be equally precious to me. It’s so easy to let memories drift away and become lost to time, but taking a moment to sit with them and document them is wonderful. I couldn’t wait for the next evening to write some more down.
Of course, great relationships accrue many more beautiful memories than 30, so the hardest job was choosing which 30 to include in the newspaper. A problem that I was very happy to have, to be clear.
I won’t share the actual memories here, so you’ll have to believe me when I say that I felt things just from thinking about them again now. You’ll have to trust me when I say you should write your own down.
Our memories aren’t guaranteed, and there’s no (easy) recovery process for the ones you lose. Sometimes, they’re all we have. Often, they’re the best things we have. I don’t want to forget any of them.
Writing that newspaper really started my love for little vignettes and for memoir, I think. For finding beauty in ordinary, everyday experiences. For cherishing the extraordinary experiences even more so.
If you’ve never done so before, I urge you to write down more of your memories. I urge you further to share them with the people you love. To sit with them together for a moment and simply hold space for them.