We had another amazing class! People started arriving 20 minutes early and by the start of class everyone was talking to one another...not a shy person in the group..already an ensemble of people supporting one another! Very uplifting!! The room was filled with energy and the lights of 16 people with a thirst for learning and experiencing new things and a willingness to share their intimate life stories...I spoke with one of the students after class who asked if the story she planned to tell next week was too serious/sad....After wiping the tears from my face I told her no...that it was a story to be told..a story to be heard...a story that others could learn from....
The Memory Chair (cont’d) Our Second Class
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
This is our second week of Life Stories class and we are still wearing our name tags; this may go on for quite a while, remember, most of our members have reached what has been called that ‘golden’ stage in life: ‘Seniors.”
We are still working on the introductory phase and Wrenn got right into it. She probably had nightmares of her weekly schedule forever being a week behind, and on the 12th week as the last class ended and we walked out, one by one, she would be standing at the door saying, “but we didn’t get to the best part…acting!”
So we got started on the last eight members’ question and answer session. Many things came to light: when Dave was asked his name, he had to look down at his name tag, it was turned backwards and he had to flip it over, “Dave,” he finally said. Of course, we all laughed with him. We found out Hess is our Nature Man, he said being outside was a passion of his, and also, cooking. Don told us he is writing about his life. And Jane revealed she joined the class because she loved to talk…and always wanted to be ‘a drama queen.’ Doesn’t every class need one? Barbara’s favorite color is purple…and one other thing she and I have in common…hats…she had on a cute black one.
Wrenn asked for volunteers to do a short skit about a lady driver running a red light and being stopped by a policeman. It was a class act with Lynnsy, the driver, and Carolyn, being the cop. Needless to say, a lot of the ad-lib answers sent us into gales of laughter. What we came away with was: never drive when drinking, even if you deny it; always have your glasses on if you need them to see; and never answer the question, Where are your glasses? by saying, “I don’t know.” And also, try to keep your driver’s license up to date. It was her lucky day: Lynnsy received only a warning.
We were then divided into groups of four to read our assignment about childhood stories and to select one story for the writer to read out loud to the group. And of course, we ran over the time limit…but most of us stayed. After hearing the stories, Wrenn said we had possibilities and she could already see certain scenes being played out on our big Play Date.
We were given our assignment for next week and then dismissed in quick order.
The hero of the day was Don…with his most important question, “Where’s the food?”
Elizabeth (Willie) Towles
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