You may not be a boat owner yourself or a skillful sailor, but we’ve all been on boats in our lives.

What memories do you have of times on the water in a rowboat, a canoe, a sailboat, or a ferry?  Or perhaps you’ve cruised the seas on a freighter or luxurious ocean liner?

Think back about Boats and share forward!

Are you a coffee-lover? Or do you prefer tea? What did your parents drink? Do you remember your first cup?

If coffee is your beverage of choice, how do you drink it?  Black or with sugar and cream?   Espresso or cappuccino? Is Starbucks a daily destination?

Or if tea is your favorite brew, do you like it loose or in teabags? Green, herbal, or Lipton’s?  Or do you like to drink it iced with a sprig of mint?

Do you have any happy or any unhappy beverage memories?

Think back about Coffee or Tea? and share forward!

The Covid pandemic certainly put a kink in everyone’s travels,  but it seems many of us are traveling again with a vengeance.  Do you have current travel plans?

Are there places you’ve been to you’d like to revisit?  Or are you planning trips to new destinations?  And do you have some happy as well as some unhappy travel stories?

What’s on your travel bucket list?

Think back about Travels and share forward!

The dictionary definition of “word” is “a single distinct, meaningful element of speech or writing used with others to form a sentence.”

In addition to speaking or writing, we can now send our words electronically around the globe with a simple click. But the poet Pearl Strachan Hurd reminds us to … “Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atomic bombs.”

How have words figured into your life? What experiences with words can you recall for yourself or your children, or with foreign speakers you’ve met?

Think back about Words and share forward!

We may or may not love to shop,  but happily or grudgingly we’re all shoppers  –  for food,  clothing,  shelter,  and those innumerable other purchases we really need or simply want.

Have you had some memorable experiences as a shopper?  Have you ever shopped ‘til you dropped,  or landed some great bargains?  Or have there been times when you’ve suffered buyer’s remorse ?

Think back about Shoppers and share forward!

We all watched some of the televised Olympic events this summer.  Did they evoke memories of youthful athletic aspirations for you?

Did you ever dream of becoming a star athlete, an actor, or an artist?

Did you study or train for that goal? Did you ever try out for a team, audition for a role, or submit your work to a juried art show?

How did your efforts end? — in joy or disappointment?

Think back to Olympic Hopefuls and share forward!

Most of us find that our memory was sharper when we were young,  and that we’ve gotten more forgetful as we’ve aged.

What do you tend to forget?

– where you left your keys – or your car?

– when you were to meet a friend – and where?

– whether you turned off the oven – or the bathtub?

Has your forgetfulness ever had funny,  or serious, or catastrophic repercussions?

Think back – if you can – about Forgetting,  and share forward!

The first supermarket in the country — a Piggly Wiggly — opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916. Since then by choice or necessity, we all shop in supermarkets and hopefully those experiences are uneventful and not unpleasant — or are they?

Have you had some eventful or out-of-the-ordinary adventures — either good or bad — while shopping in supermarkets?

Think back about Supermarkets and share forward!

2024 has rammed electoral-year people,  places,  and events into our hearts, minds, and nerves.

Another election 56 years ago also roared into our national consciousness.  The Tet Offensive exposed the failures of the Vietnam War.  Hair rocked Broadway with its naked hippiedom.

A white supremacist assassinated Martin Luther King in Memphis.  Robert F Kennedy was shot down in Los Angeles.  In Chicago a protested 1968 Democratic convention chose Hubert Humphrey over Senator Eugene McCarthy,  paving the way for a Nixon victory.

What does that pivotal year mean to you?  Think back to 1968 and share forward!

Are some of your best childhood and teenage memories about time spent at amusement parks?

Do you remember when you could intentionally and legally ram another vehicle with your Bumper Car?  Or when you could tempt fate on the Big Dipper roller coaster, or ride the Tilt-O-Whirl until your stomach gave up your greasy midway junk food all over your date?

Think back about Amusement Park Memories and share forward!