I’ve been writing quite a bit about the places I’ve lived. The community menu on this blog now has an item for residence, or places where I’ve lived. The list is far from complete, but part of adding the places I’ve lived is writing about what happened there. I’ve been focusing on my childhood and some college. Some pages are more placeholders, acknowledging their existence but waiting to be filled in.

I have many memories of White Marsh and Fort Ashby, but Westminster is a blur, and I remember nothing before. Fortunately, my mom is helping me.

Before my mother passed away, she asked each of us children what we wanted from her possessions. My sister and I had talked before this, distraught that we didn’t really know who our mom was. So when mom asked me what I wanted, I asked her to write down a few things about herself. Who she was growing up, how she met dad, and what her memories were. From there, she would give me little updates on her progress every now and then. It seemed like a fun project that kept her going. About a year later, she came to visit and handed me a thick three-ring binder of handwritten pages. Shortly after, she passed away. I feel this little project may have helped keep her going a bit longer.

Westminster is mostly done. I may add parts of her journal to reflect her original voice alongside mine. White Marsh has quite a few items planned for writing, but it is coming along. Fort Ashby is done. The first and last places in Pittsburgh have been added.

The pages take time, and some parts are emotionally exhausting to write down. It’s a mix of trying to put down out what I remember, trying to come at it from an archivist’s point of view with facts and references, while also trying to keep it human with how I felt, where I was, the mood of the situation, and more. I won’t be around forever, but I’m aware that the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine can capture and preserve this website’s content long after I’m gone.

Part of this is also a learning experience, trying to understand myself – where I came from, the lessons I learned, why I am who I am.

I’ve also added a plugin to the site called “Ask My Content,” which lets you ask questions about its content. I like how it references the sources used to respond, but I can’t click the links, and some of the answers assume certain situations still exist today.

I’ve asked about my Mom. It’s strange to see a machine summarize my mother as loving when my experience was far more complicated. That tension between record and memory is part of why I’m writing all this down myself. As I fill in more gaps in my life, I will gain a bit more perspective and improve summaries with more context.

I’m hoping to learn more about myself by asking the system questions. Sometimes it comes up short. Sometimes it’s revealing something I hadn’t thought of. What kind of questions will you ask?