Magical Memoir Moments
Gliding, Swinging, and Proposing: Love in Motion
My father proposed to my mother while they sat on a porch glider. Stuart popped the question on a double seated swing. Forty-six years later, love is motion.
Becoming an Artist: A Lifelong Dream
An old painting, uncovered from The Box in the Basement, reminds me of my deepest desire: to become an artist who keeps learning and teaching.
The Longhouse Project at the Hans Herr House: A Good Beginning
Like many Mennonites whose roots go back to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I am a descendent of Hans Herr. The 1719 Hans Herr House, built in that year by Christian and Anna Herr, is the oldest surviving house in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the oldest original Mennonite meeting house still standing in the Western Hemisphere. I…
Returning Thanks: An Annoying Duty to a Child, A Profound Memory for the Adult
My father’s father, David Paul Hershey, figures large in my memory of growing up. That’s primarily because the relationship between him and my father was complicated. Daddy bought the family farm (called The Home Place in my memoir Blush). Enough said. For now. But despite the differences of opinion between the two patriarchs who ruled…
Choosing Photos for a Memoir: Which One Should it Be?
Robert Burns asked for the gift to “see ourselves as others see us.” Every author wants that same gift and yet trembles before the awful throne of reader judgment, hoping that one’s private thoughts made public will be held with respect, maybe even with tenderness and love. A writer needs to earn that trust. Selecting…