Sugar Bowl Notes

I purchased this book, To Our Children’s Children. Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come by Bob Greene, many years ago. It is a book of questions to guide you or start your thought processes as you record your personal history for your children.

Some questions were straight forward –
What is your full name?
What is your favourite colour?

Others sparked my imagination and set my pen to dancing –
Do you remember the first time you saw your brother or sister.
Do you remember any stories your grandparents told you?
Did you sit on their lap or side by side, or walk hand in hand when you heard these stories?
Do you tell these stories to your grandchildren?
How big was your grandparents kitchen?
What did their couch feel like?
Did your dad shave with a straight razor or electric razor?
Who sat where at the family dinner table?
What did your father’s handwriting look like?
What did you see when you looked out of your bedroom window?

So, you get the idea. Each chapter is full of hundreds of questions and I could pick and chose which ones to answer to paint a picture of my personal history. It is really fun, and I have been working on this project, on and off, for years. It is something I pick up and play with for a little while and then put down when my writing takes me in another direction. I like having something like that to go back to when thoughts and ideas aren’t flowing freely. I read the questions until one grabs me and then start to write. Pretty soon thoughts and ideas are flowing again and I am clipping right along.

Anyway, what does all this have to do with Sugar Bowl Notes and what the heck are they?

At the end of the book the author asks this question-

If you had to write a note – one note – and leave it propped against the sugar bowl on your kitchen table for future generations to read, what would you say in that note?

It might be a bit of philosophy you’ve learned over the years; it might be a helpful tip or piece of guidance. It might be a thought about the meaning of your life; it might be your most heartfelt wishes for the people who read it. Intimate or humourous, it can be anything you want.

One note – one note to leave in the kitchen, for your children’s children and theirs, and all of ours.

Since reading that, I put some thought into what my Sugar Bowl Note would be, and make it a point to ask people what they would put in their Sugar Bowl Note?

I have collected many of them over the years, and consider them a rich treasure. So, let me ask you today to think about what you would write on your Sugar Bowl Note for future generations to read. Please share them with me, and that way we can lean them against the sugar bowl on our kitchen table in cyberspace for our blog family to read now and in the future.

I will start things off by sharing mine, AC’s and daughter #2’s.

There are other people in this world, and there are more to come. Think about what you are doing. Don’t forget to walk the dog tonight.Daughter #2 (16 at the time)

We seem to be programmed for everything to balance out. If you are having a great day today, then you stand a good chance of having a bad one tomorrow. Once you understand this seldom known fact, you can determine in your heart to do what it takes to have a good day tomorrow. And the best way to start tomorrow is with a song. Always hum, sing, or whistle in the morning because no one else is going to start the music for you. Greet the day with a song, and you will be in tune for the whole day. Anvilcloud

Always be kinder than you need to be. Cuppa