Question-a-Week Family History

On numerous occasions I mentioned to my parents and in-laws, who have never written their personal histories, my desire to read about their lives. Each request was met with “Oh, my life wasn’t very exciting.” I realized that actually sitting down and writing histories may have seemed an overwhelming task to them. So I bought two notebooks and two plastic bags. In each bag I placed 60 questions on separate pieces of paper, such as “What do you remember about your baptism?” and “What was your first job?”

On Father’s Day my husband and I gave the books and questions to our dads and requested they take out one question a week from the bag and write down the answer in the notebook or, if they preferred, on computer.

The first to respond was my father-in-law, who gave us the notebook for Christmas with answers to all of the questions. We enjoyed this gift so much that we sent similar questions to our mothers. By answering only one question a week, our parents discovered that writing their personal history was not very difficult and brought them personal enjoyment.—Koral Slight, Yakima, Washington

Illustrated by Beth M. Whittaker