We completed another Life Stories class last week. As always, I asked the "graduates" to share anything they wanted from what they had written over the past two months. Two of the women shared with the group the stories of their children dying, one as a teenager and one as a preschooler. When we started the class nine weeks earlier, neither woman thought she'd even write about those deaths because of the pain the memories caused. Yet here they were sharing those stories aloud. I suspect there have been many times over the years when they've wanted to talk about these children but didn't know how. Once they had the experience and their feelings in writing, they could release it in spoken words also. And they were able to smile as they talked about these young loved ones. ... I keep discovering more reasons why these Life Stories really must be written.
- Martha Rasche