The times of our lives ... when we write.

The National Day on Writing this past Friday showcased the many ways we all write. In my post on Facebook, I shared that I write email, marginal notes in articles and books, blog posts, articles, and books. Kim, one of my colleagues in the Maine Writing Project, posted the following powerful piece:

"Today I delivered a eulogy I wrote this past week for an amazing man I loved dearly. At  the service I asked all those present to write as well. Many wrote a memory of this good man. I write what needs to be written." 

This past weekend, we celebrated my brother Allen's 70th birthday in San Antonio, Texas. We also gathered 20 years ago to celebrate his 50th. We see these gatherings as a celebration of Allen, but also of our family, our parents, and those who are coming after us.

In tribute to her father, my niece Julia asked her dad's siblings to write a memory and share a photo. Today, she sent us glimpses of the final product that she shared with her dad last evening in the Bay Area. I can only imagine how moved my brother must have been with the writing and photographs, this gift that his daughter so thoughtfully created.

Writing is ... powerful, passionate, wild & wicked, stressful, clichéd, inviting, happy & gloomy, raucous & gentle, snappy or drawn out, revised, fresh ...

And so very often, writing is love.

Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.