May’s Lent: Memory Lane

I was chatting on the phone with my dad last week when out of the blue he said to me:

“Hey, want to know what my favorite memory of you and I is?”

“Of couse”, I said.

“It was when you were little and I’d put you to bed at night. I’d always ask you what you wanted to talk about and every night, without fail, no matter what time of year it was, you’d say the fair. Then I’d go on and on about every last detail of the fair until you’d fall asleep. I loved that.”

I could have cried. It was the sweetest, cutest thing I had ever heard. After that I got to thinking—what’s my favorite memory of my dad and I? What about with my mom? And my brother? And hey, what are just my favorite memories from my life in general…and that’s when I had my 12 Months of Lent epiphany moment: Wouldn’t it be amazing to write out all of my favorite moments from my entire life so that I could have a record, a sort-of catalog, of my most favorite memories? Yes, it would, welcome to May’s lent (and another example of my Type A personality shining through): Memory Lane.

After all the heaviness that last month brought, I’m ready to focus on the positive for a bit and I’m feeling hopeful that this challenge will do the trick (I’m already feeling immense amounts of gratitude from going over the amazing memories I’ve dug up so far). Plus, since most of my favorite memories are only recorded in 15 years worth of old journals in the basement, it’ll be pretty cool to have them in a much more accessible place.

The format is going to be free-form, just a memory a day, in no particular order, with no hierarchy (ie. there is no “best moment ever of all time”, they’re all lovely and wonderful in their own way). I’m going to try to include photos when I can too.

And this is where you come in…is anyone interested in participating too? I’d love to feature a “Guest Favorite Memory” each week, or even maybe a few of them. I haven’t worked out the exact details, but shoot an email over to 12monthsoflent@gmail.com if you’re interested and we can chat. Or if you’d like to take on the challenge on your own blog, I’m happy to link over to you, just lemme know!

1, 2, 3…”It was the best when…”