OSHER 867 - How Did I Get Here? Processing and Preserving Our Memories Through Writing

We often go through the busyness of life without stopping to process just what we are experiencing, what we feel, what we are learning, and how life is shaping us. When a loved one dies or a new baby arrives, when we go through a divorce or get the job we have been hoping for, these monumental things can get brushed over all too easily. The process of writing down these experiences and describing the feelings that accompanied them becomes therapeutic and helps us discover what really went on inside our very beings and how these experiences, indeed, have shaped us. We discover ourselves in a whole new way. Inspired by her mother, Emma Lou Thayne, and the Osher class she taught for several years, "We Are Our Stories," Dinny will teach this interactive class in a way to help us discover the deeper meaning of how we arrived at this stage of our lives. Using Brian Doyle's book, "One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder" as a reference, we will uncover the wonder in our own lives, from the simplicity of sensing the flutter of a hummingbird to the complexity of watching the horrors of 9/11 to the reluctant awareness of aging.