PREFACE

Reflecting on My Life

Royal Burton Price

Does anyone really know who we are as a person?    Does one even know one’s self?  Probably not, since each one of us is the sum of our family background, memories, experiences and decisions.  These parts of our life form a story that defines us.  As the years pass, new chapters are added to the story.  Do these new chapters re-define who we are?  To some extent yes, but our basic core self remains.  Our own individual story is like a jigsaw puzzle that needs assembly. 

I would say most of us are not really well known beyond our family, friends and acquaintances. Even so, it is safe to say our life’s stories are a mystery to most.  I expect even those of our extended family do not know our complete history.  For the most part our history is an oral one.  Every family has an oral history that has been related by family members and friends as short, unconnected, stories. These stores usually occur under all types of situations, ranging from casual to serious. It is rare that most of these stories are passed onto others, much less the next generation.  Of course these stores are as varied as the individuals in the family.  Not only does everyone have a different story, everyone’s memories and remembrances are not the same.  I believe family oral history is very important.  It defines not only ourselves, but forms an important ingredient in the development of all family members.

I believe our family and early childhood forms the real foundation of who we are. Our parents raise us to a point, after that it is up to us.  Still, I believe our parents provide the basis for who we become.  My parents are gone, my Dad died in 1976 and my Mom in 1990.  I still miss them.  Especially since I did not tell them of my love for them and did not thank them for their love, care and guidance. Perhaps they understood, but it is sad not to have told them my feelings.  I missed the opportunity of a lifetime by not having any real dialog with them while they were alive.  A great opportunity was missed by not asking questions of them to learn more about them.their parents and grandparents, who they were and what were the major events in their lives. Now I have only the stories they related to me, at least as best as memory allows.  As a result, there is so much I do not know of their family history.  Rather than lamenting over missed opportunities, I have decided to review my life by writing of my memories, experiences and decisions. 

To be sure, my life’s experiences are not earth shaking nor profound.   Perhaps Reflecting will generate memories of your own, or elicit “I didn’t know that”, or “so that’s why he is that way”, or “I’ll not make that mistake” and so many other similar thoughts.  Why now write of these memories and things?  Well,  two newspaper articles in late 2011 and early 2012 prompted me to reflect on events and decisions in my life and prompted me to begin writing my story.    

The first article was an October, 2011 op-ed in the Jackson Hole Daily written by David Brooks of the New York Times.  His op-ed was titled “Looking to Learn from the Life Reports of Our Elders”.  Basically, Brooks wanted people over 70 to write short essays, or evaluations, on their lives to date: to relate your achievements and failures.  It was requested these essays be e-mailed to him by Thanksgiving for a future column.  He opined that there is no formal rite in which people relate their life experiences in any meaningful way, much less at all, so that the younger generations can learn how life and families develop and change.  I liked his idea and began considering responding.  However, as I mulled it over a short essay seemed inappropriate.  How can you relate a lifetime of achievements or failures in a short essay?  Seventy-seven years covers so many events, memories, decisions and loads of thoughts that a short essay would not allow me to relate my life’s events in any meaningful manner.  Plus, Thanksgiving was only 6 weeks away and there were too many other things that needed my attention.  So, I began to think about reflecting on my life and whether to prepare it, how to prepare it and finally who would be my audience.  At this point, the subject was placed into the back recesses of my mind, especially around Christmas when our lives took another turn requiring a trip to Salt Lake City.

Then, while Norma and I were in Salt Lake City for her radiation treatments, the lead article in USA Today newspaper further jogged my thoughts about writing this rumination of my life.  The article was titled “We Must ‘Find a Cure’ to Save Memories”.  This article discussed the need to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.  Alzheimer’s destroys memories and a person’s ability to communicate and strikes at the very heart of what David Brooks’ concern for providing younger generations valuable life experiences, as well as memories of the way things were and how we were influenced by them.  It was this USA Today article that helped me to decide now was the time to write Reflecting on My Life.

This Preface was initially prepared about a year ago and has lain dormant since then.  There just seemed to be too many other activities requiring attention. My story was not forgotten, just postponed.  Then on Christmas Eve 2012 I was ask a question, which after answering it, I reflected on why the question was ask. It became clear that our family’s oral history needed to be told.  My story is certainly not the whole family history, but at least its a start on one portion of our family’s history.

March 16, 2013