This March I will be participating in the mont
h-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises.
In this writing SPARK, Golberg asks us us to tell her, “What will you miss when you die?” I gave myself 5 minutes, because I wanted to see what would bubble up first-my life has been so wonderful I could write a tome on what I’d miss if I gave myself enough time.
What will you miss when you die?
litcoachlady 
I love this and am writing it down. This is one exercise I do not believe I have done from this book.
I love the ability of her prompts to start the line so simple yet it be so powerful: “I ‘ll miss” Love how you ended the piece. You could make this into a poem.
Thank you for being vulnerable. I am writing this is my notebook now.
Mmm… this question is one I do *not* like thinking about, but your reflections show me the power of the question because they are full of love and sensory details. And the last line opens up whole new vistas. You know, I think I knew about this book once upon a time, but I had forgotten it. I may have to pick it up – thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I love this Paula! May try this at some point. I had a really crazy morning this morning and my day won’t end until about 8pm today, and I made a joke that “well if I don’t make it out alive today, at least I’ll be wearing cute earrings!” – connecting that “lighthearted” thought with your post- I’ll be interested to see what pops into my mind in 5 minutes of thinking what I’ll miss when I’m gone.
As always, thanks for the writing inspiration!
Oh, I love the ending—always a sucker for a great, thought-provoking finish! You’ve pretty much said it all, and once again, Tammy is giving us all food for thought.
I wasn’t expecting this one to bring tears to my eyes, but it did. I need to try this later this month!
When I’m feeling especially brave I may have the nerve to try this exercise. We don’t talk enough about death as a natural part of life. You post reminds us that we can have thoughts about it and not turn into pillars of salt.
It brought tears to my eyes. I hope to give this a try but I don’t think I could envision to write it .
I love how you gave yourself five minutes. This is what I would need to do. It would be so easy to begin listing the vast number of things that are great about my life, that it would likely just be a list. Limiting the time allows for reflecting on the choices. I love that.
Paula, while this question is a sensitive one at this time (I have had 6 friends pass away over past 1 1/2 yrs), I like the way you responded, especially the last thought.
I hadn’t thought about what I’d miss when I die, but I often think about what I miss about others I’ve known who died and what they missed out on from having died. Now I’m wondering what others will miss about me.
This is beautiful, Paula. Thank you for opening your heart and sharing with us ❤️
Tough one to write.