Messages From the Future

Classic Little People

A few weeks ago I had a dream about my posterity. I don't remember much but the image of them all in a group, maybe 40 or 50 people of different ages and they were all looking up intently at me. (I'm not sure where I was--maybe in the sky or on a ladder.)

In the morning I tried to look up "posterity" in my dream dictionary to no avail. In pondering it's significance over the last few weeks, I have come up with several things, and it seems clear to me now that the future is trying to send me a message. They are reminding me that they exist. (Right now I only have one daughter, but hey, look at Abraham.)

That they were looking at me intently does not then surprise me--they are keenly interested in what I will do next. Maybe it was a reminder to be good, or to use my time wisely. But I think it also had to do with them wanting to know me. Sadly, too many of us know only shallow details about our relatives two generations back and beyond. This people lived fill lives, yet all we know are the birth, marriage and death date and maybe a few stories that could be categorized as folklore.

I go around giving speeches about the benefits of knowing your legacy, and also, therefore of leaving one. My posterity, whether they like it or not, will have more than a timeline. They will will also know what I thought and felt. I would pay anything to know these things about my mother. She died when I was 11.

I guess what I am trying to get across is, if you think your story doesn't matter, you are wrong. Maybe your kids won't care, but your grandkids will. Do it for them. And if you understand exponents, you know that these people who will be looking intently at you--or your story--will quickly number in the hundreds.

Stories have great power. They make us see what is possible, the help us to feel connected, teach us and can even heal us. So start writing, or if you have a parent who is not ever going to do it, get them to start talking. Memoirs Ink has classes and coaching available to help writers of any level and we have skilled life-history interviewers all over the country. Don't wait till it is too late. It is hard to fill these holes in our hearts and in the universe. Email us or call us today: info at memoirsink dot com or 888-486-3664.