Prompt #124

  • Prompt #124

    How do you want to be remembered?

    Humorous or serious – what would you write for your epitaph?

    Compose several brief epitaphs for yourself — the headlines you’d like to see on your headstone. Think of them as messages to future generations that convey how you want to be remembered. And then. . . write a story that explains why the epitaph is appropriate.

    You could also write this for your fictional character.

    Here are some ideas:

    • He Was Happiest When He Was Young. Strongest When He Was Old.
    • Family First, Last, and Always
    • I’d Rather Be Smelling the Roses (Than Lying Underneath Them)
    • Wish I Had It All to Do Over Again (So I Could Do It All the Same but Better)

    From Family Tales, Family Wisdom —  How to gather the stories of a lifetime and share them with your family, by Dr. Robert U. Akeret with Daniel Klein

    Prompt #124

    Write your obituary, or your Life’s Tributes.  Share your writing here, on The Write Spot Blog.

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  • * “An epiphany is a sudden realization of a significant event. At that special moment, a life meaning becomes clear to you —an insight into your personality, a discovery of something you value or believe in, an acute sense of where you are in life.

    Here’s an Epiphany Tale one elder told to her family:

    Lake.1I must have been around seven or eight. It was summer, and we were visiting my aunt Clara up at Crystal Lake. I was alone, lying on my back by the banks of the lake, looking up at the sky, and I had my harmonica in my mouth. I was just breathing through it, in and out, not playing a melody, simply breathing. And suddenly, I was overcome with this wonderful feeling of connection to everything in the world. I’d say now it was a spiritual feeling. I listened to the sound my breathing made through that harmonica, and I thought, I am part of the noise of the world. I am part of everything . . . I’ve had that feeling again, from time to time, throughout my life — a certainty that I am part of the universe —but that was my first time. I think that knowledge is one reason I’ve never found the idea of dying very frightening.”

    Your turn: Write about an epiphany you or your fictional character has had.

    * Excerpt: From Family Tales, Family Wisdom —  How to gather the stories of a lifetime and share them with your family, by Dr. Robert U. Akeret with Daniel Klein