After Mum had moved in 2014 to the “care home’, someone – I think my late sister Hilarie – bought Mum a special book entitled Dear Mum: from me to you, subtitled A Journal of a Lifetime. The idea was that, using various headings on each page, Mum could record various aspects of her life. There are online versions of memoir prompts, but this was bound in hardback, and the idea is that this could be written up in full and passed back to the donor. Mum became too infirm to complete this, but there are entries that are in Hilarie’s handwriting – she must have completed these from conversations with Mum.
Mum did complete some pages in somewhat shaky handwriting, like “How did you meet my Father?”, but Hilarie wrote up other pages. Some of this concerns material in Mum’s earlier memoir, from 1992, but there is some new material and several insights. I have been able to use one observation in a piece about the Isle of Man, published tonight.
I was not aware of the book, but I think that Hilarie must have bought it for Mum, and helped her complete it on one or more of her visits from the south. Sadly, I cannot ask her about this, since she passed away in September, but I am able to record my gratitude to her for this. We do not know what will interest those whom we leave behind, and indeed what sort of emotional connection – very strong indeed in my case – will develop with the memories and the words which help to represent them.
I think the book was packed away when Mum’s room was cleared, and taken to a rented store that was itself emptied in June this year. I had not been certain where this was located, but happily my wife found this tonight, and I have already been able to use it.
I hope to continue the memoirs in 2020.
Joan Boughey Recalled 