Ug!! I’ve spent four years waiting to watch the Olympic women’s gymnastics and I was so excited on Tuesday because it was coming on at 8:00 p.m. After dinner, it was still too early so I was casually reading the day’s news. I went to USAToday.com and discovered they’d done what many other news sites did NOT. They posted the results IN their headlines! There was NO spoiler alert warning! ARRRRGHHH!!! Well, that’ll teach me to surf the Internet for the next couple of weeks! I’m also very excited about watching the diving.

When I was waiting for the Olympics to come on, I remembered something I hadn’t thought about in a long, long time. When I was a teenager, I lived in The Woodlands, Texas, and almost every day of my summer was spent swimming and sunning at the WAC (Woodlands Athletic Center). The WAC had an Olympic-sized swimming pool along with an Olympic diving pool (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 meters). One summer, Olympian hopefuls from all over the world were there and a young man from Mexico took a liking to me, and asked me out on a date. Our date was never to be, however, because that day, while he was diving, his face hit the 3-meter springboard and, while his injuries were not life-threatening, he wasn’t in any condition to be taking me out since half his face got scraped off and he had a minor concussion. It was horrifying and, to this day, when I watch the divers, I still hold my breath until each one clears the board/platform.

That memory reminded me of the time I lied to my parents and went on a date with my friend’s brother…who was several years older. It was only after he picked me up, while I sitting in his dark car, drowning in his loud music, that I realized I was WAY out of my league (I was only 14) and I never went out with him again. He was a nice guy but, at 19, he was SO OLD! That’s one of the stories that I waited to tell each of our children until after they were grown. (That means the two little ones haven’t heard it yet so, ssshhh, don’t tell.)

Isn’t it funny how one memory can lead to another, and another, and another? My book, How to Remember, Write and Publish Your Life Story (https://writersweekly.com/books/4764.html) uses Memory Triggers to uncover memories and one memory always leads to more…even the ones you don’t want your kids to know about. 😉

This week’s Masonism:

Mason has had a “looth tooth” (his first one) for over a month now. We were starting to think that tiny thing was never going to fall out. Despite our stories about the awesome tooth fairy trading money for teeth, he was still very nervous because he didn’t want it to bleed.

Last weekend, he walked up to me with his finger in his mouth and said, “Wook! My toof is wying dow ah iz side!” Sure enough, it was lying down flat, but still hanging on by a thread! I asked him for the zillionth time if I could yank it and he finally said yes. I did so (very quickly, before he changed his mind) and it didn’t hurt at all.

Mason then looked in the mirror, smiled, and yelled, “Tomorrow I’ll be rich!”

Big hugs to all,
Angela

P.S. I want to “follow” you!

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HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY! by Angela Hoy
Using Angela’s MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years, and record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook. Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography! **Also works for biographies and memoirs.**