I love memoir.
Just adore it.
As a writer, poet and memoirist myself,
I can't get enough of others' stories.
And that's not due to a voyeuristic streak or anything----
or even a love of biographies.
<Because biographies? blech. >
Nope.
It's the need I have to get a sense of how others structure
snapshot - ing their lives.
The ordinary-ness, the extraordinary-ness.
Just how other writers
create a window into a moment
---or even a day or a year ---- in the life
and make it not only readable, but gripping, is something
I can't get enough of.
Way more important to me than what writers write is how they write.
I guess a post of my can't - live - without - 'em
memoirs is upcoming? 😏
So what does this have to do with what's saving my life?
It's all based on the amazing memoir of
Barbra Brown Taylor, Leaving Church.
Taylor tells us when she was once
invited to speak at a gathering, her host told her simply,
“Tell us what is saving your life right now."
She says this is too good a thought not to revisit from time to time.
Most of us can easily articulate what's killing us, but few
of us pay attention to what’s giving us life.
Anne, at MMD, has begun a
"what's saving our lives now" party and of course,
I'm happy to join in with a few seriously life - saving items,
books, shows and hacks!
~ 1 ~
Let's start with this bag.
I know, not exactly crucial or meaningful, right?
But as they say, it's the little things....
I thought, years ago, that as the boys got older, my bag would get smaller.
Hmmm, not so.
Now, it's stuffed with all things me.
~ 2 ~
Roomy enough to neatly house all my must-haves from keys to planners
< I adore this one, but it's way too pricey sooooo,
I'll stick with this one~
I really like a no - frills month at a glance planner...
I know the whole world is busy tapping their lives into their phones or whatnot
to stay organized.
I'm big on paper planners.
They work for me.
~ 3 ~
As does this monthly wipe off wall calendar
on which everyone's activities
and appointments are color coded.
I'm definitely an organizational items junkie!
~ 4 ~
Also in that bag, this awesome zippered pouch
which contains all those small
items that float around the floor of the bag!


~ 5 ~
What else is saving my life??
GOOD friends who have my back, hold me in prayer
and are always there to lend an ear.
They're nearby or just an instant message away.

~ 6 ~
Long, brisk walks..... short ones too.
Definitely getting o-u-t there everyday no matter
what the temp or if there's precip.
It's necessary, I find.
For too long I never "found the time" to devote to
clearing my head --and exercise of course--through the walk.

~ 7 ~
No, it's certainly not high quality lit.
But at night huddled under a warm blanket....
which by the way...yup...another on the saving my life list.....
......is easy reading.
I've come to enjoy following the O'Briens' lives and loves and
trials and tribulations.

I don't carve out time to read during the day;
so nighttime, right before sleep, is IT.
Chesapeake Shores is just what I needed since
completing Macomber's Cedar Cove series!
I think I'm only about a third of the way through
all of the Shores titles.

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