A friend of mine posted a fun and interesting request on Facebook this morning. Open the book nearest you, turn to page 56, go to the 5th sentence, and post it to your (FB) status—no questions, or mention of which book, just post the words from the 5th sentence. I came up with a two-word sentence: Inspire Trust. As part of the game, I posted this on my status along with the request for all my friends to participate. My daughter soon replied with something like, "Oh no, my page is blank!...what could that mean?"
At first thought, you might think this (blank page) represents a dull life void of happiness, joy, peace, purpose, and all those other things we humans desire. But, really, I think her "blank" page meant this: A sign that life itself IS a blank page; actually, an entire (empty) book waiting to be written—many pages waiting to be filled in. I told my daughter it was a good sign that page 56 in her book was blank. Her life was open to design, to write, as she chooses! And that she is so lucky to have such a clear reminder! But, then this little exercise got me to thinking about something else.
About fifteen years ago I had the idea to write a book to capture stories of those who've lived a long life—a compilation of sorts. I even had a title for the book: A Book of Life. The inspiration came from reading obituaries in the Sunday newspaper; a favorite pastime I used to have. It bothered me that a person could live to the ripe old age of 95, for example, and salute us goodbye with no more than a few dry words as if plucked from their resume—perhaps even written by a stranger. I would study the words deeply and if there was an accompanying photo, study that as well—looking for something "about them" behind the superficial words, the grainy 2X3 black & white. A fire was lit in my belly; to me this felt like an injustice! How could any of us live a life and not leave at least some words of wisdom; or just one simple story about what life was like; or how you might change things; would you? So I got to work on a solution. I would just have to go out and interview these people myself!
I started working on a list of interview questions. I contacted nursing homes, retirement communities, and began meeting a lot of old people "out of the blue"—a sure sign I was meant to do this. I had a growing list of names of interested—and interesting—people. I met people at the most unlikely places; a ninety-two year old man walking down the very steep slope to a beach I was hiking up from; a couple celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on a flight to San Diego sat right next to me—he was a spry 96 year old and his youthful bride was 84; I met a 92 year old pianist at a piano bar who had played "the big time" in his day and had his own "trading cards" like pro athletes—complete stats on the back! Friends gave me names and contact information of mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles. My list was growing rapidly!
Problem was, although my enthusiasm never died, my tendency to over commit prevented me from making much progress. I am filled with guilt, disappointment and suffer pangs of regret each time I meet an interested—and interesting—soul. I am reminded of all those who must be gone by now—the ones I never followed up with. I've been getting what I call more "signs" again, like page 56 from my daughter's book—the image of an empty page pulls heavily on me.
I continue to meet all sorts of people who are interested in being interviewed. I've started on some, but it's still slow going. So, I decided to do something different. Life keeps moving, and ending—without capturing all the in betweens—and I need to get out of the way!
I created this blog as a call to anyone interested in helping me build the "Book of Life". The idea is that I can send my questionnaire (which evolves each time it is used—a good thing!) as an aid to help you interview someone you know—or it can even be YOU! Although, I've learned that the end result tends to be better and the process more fun if at least two people are involved; the interviewer and the interviewee. The questionnaire is merely an aid to help get conversation going and keep it flowing—not everyone is a natural like Barbara Walters or Oprah! And one of the best parts is when the interviewee digresses; this happens best when in conversation instead of simply "answering the questions" on your own. This style of interviewing typically opens a whole new story than what started—often rich with long-forgotten memories and full of wisdom. So, the conversational interview is preferred.
Upon completion, send me the completed interview and I will post here for the world to see and benefit from the stories of people everywhere! Everyone has something to share! We will build the "Book of Life" together! And one day, perhaps we, too, will all have a page in this book—and it won't be blank!
To request the "Book of Life" questionnaire, please email: abookoflife@aol.com. I am not sure what type of response I will get so please be patient if I don't get back to you immediately. If I'm right about this, a lot of people have something to say—as they should—and I will be getting a lot of emails! I sure hope so!
Please note:
Although my original "ideal" candidate was someone post the 80-year mark, I've learned that many people have lived a full life in a much shorter time. Use your best judgment, but please remember the intent is to capture the lives of our soul-friends who are approaching their later years. I've also opened this up to the terminally ill, so please feel free to interview all ages here.
I do reserve the right to make minor edits to either condense the article or for grammatical reasons.
I also reserve the right to decide which submissions are posted to prevent any misuse of this blog space.
I consider submission of all material as permission to publish any and all material at my discretion.
If you have any questions please send me a note!
