There’s a “write a memoir in six words” meme going around and I decided to have a go. You may not be surprised to hear that I found six words a rather inadequate allowance.(First attempts turned out rather gloomy) -
School, university, work, children, work, why?
Too busy to live life fully.
Tried best but have some regrets
Thinking breeds gloom; just kept going.
Worked; tidied; cuddled; worried, kept breathing.
Mother hen; chickens now spreading wings.
(Then I became a bit cheerier) -
Much love; many small pleasures; overwork.
Kept busy; less time to fret.
Married for love; who needs money?
(Make it more difficult; try alliteration) -
Lucky life; lots love; little leisure.
Fantastic family; fairly frenetic; feeling frazzled.
(A variation: alliteration in a pattern) -
Wonderful offspring; weary often; work overloaded.
(Is there a lesson in this?) –
Don’t teach: no life at all.
(But to sum up my memoir) –
All very interesting but too busy.
Six words? I need six million!
(Anyone else like to try this?)
Excellent Isabelle! My absolute favorite is "Too busy to live life fully." That one's awesome -- and oh, so true for so many of us. And then there's "Married for love; who needs money?" -- my Mom's always telling us that she's sorry she told us to marry for love 'cause now we have to work LOL. And I must say, it's ever so much more fun to read your posts now that I can picture your adorable smiling face!
ReplyDeleteYou're very good at this!
ReplyDeletePoor Isabelle! Glad you looked on the bright side eventually!
ReplyDeleteThey're very good.
On my meagre knowledge of you, how about:
ReplyDeleteworrier works, serves, survives, loves, thrives
?
I was just stopping by as I saw your comment posted on one of my blogging buddies' sites. I pondered the irony of your memoirs here and felt I had to comment.
ReplyDeleteDespite your theme of being "too busy", you've still produced quite a prolific list of memoirs in, I'll bet, a remarkably short time.
It reminds me of my friend, also an English professor, who also complains mightily to me of how busy he is with classes, papers, students, committee meetings--particularly now which is the end of the term.
Yet we correspond frequently by e-mail and I'm always impressed at how quickly he can produce a fairly long, amusing, enlightening piece of correspondence. It must be that English profs can't repress their inner muse regardless of what else is going on.
You really do have a way with words. I also like the cheerier versions.
ReplyDeleteI tried to post this comment the other day but couldn't get blogger to accept it. Trying again today...
ReplyDeleteIsabelle, you sound like you need a rest :) I think you did very well. A teacher's life must be very busy. Substituting is much easier...I rarely have to correct papers :)
Thanks so much for naming the croton. I've had several other names provided too, so I edited that post and added them this afternoon. I fixed your link in the last post too because I noticed it didn't work.
I smiled about you missing your blog anniversary. I had my second one in January, and sailed right by it without remembering until several weeks later. Time flies when we're having fun, doesn't it? :)
Always busy, but not really complaining.
ReplyDeleteLife's not long enough for me.
Not always fun, but definitely funny.
One mate, three kids, great life.
The final dirt nap solves everything.
I love the haiku-like feel of these. It's amazing how much of life one can cram into six words.
ReplyDelete