When my grandfather was just starting his trip down the Alzheimer's Superhighway, he once told me that he was working on writing his memoirs.  I was intrigued.  This was a man of few words.  He was a quite, tense kind of a guy who seemed to carry a lot of anger around inside but who didn't really express himself very frequently.  I knew that when he was younger he had done some painting and drawing, so I knew he had a creative streak.  I thought that maybe this memoir project was a new direction for his artistic interests.  Intrigued, I asked him to tell me about it.  He said that he hadn't written much of anything yet, but that he had hit upon the perfect title:  "Don't Come Back Monday." He started to explain that the title was because he had been fired from so many jobs, he couldn't even count how many.  I guess this bottled up anger he lived with would occasionally escape its containment structure and burst out at inappropriate moments.  Usually at work, and usually directed at his boss.  Papa said that that phrase, "Don't come back Monday" was one he heard repeatedly, usually preceded and  followed by cursing.  As a 4-word memoir, it isn't bad, I think, for describing this man's work life.  As his life's work, well, I don't know, maybe it isn't bad for that one either.

The other thing I keep thinking about when I contemplate this 6 Word memoir is in Buffy, Season 3.  A new character has appeared in the group, Faith, and the group is trying to explain to her  all of the varieties of folk they have in their group. In particular, they're trying to reveal that one of their own is a werewolf.  Somebody says,"Oz is a werewolf, but oh, it's a long story..." Then the said stoic werewolf, Oz, tells his story: "Got bit."  And Buffy says, "I guess not so long..."  "Got Bit" pretty much sums up the whole thing. 

So, somewhere between "Got Bit," and "Don't Come Back Monday" are the six words that sum up my whole life to date.  I've got to admit that I'm struggling to find them.  The best one I've come up with is: "Just working on overcoming my fear."  But, I'm not sure it is really THE one. I'm going to keep thinking about this one, and if I come up with a better one, I'll pass it along.

I did come up with a good 6 Word Birth Story: "Who's that screaming?  Oh, it's me." 

I'm much happier with this one, a variation on the theme that I saw at ParentDish.

:) Let me tag the academic mamas (Academama, Mimi, Nik) (and any other great mamas who are reading this!) out there to come up with their 6 Word Birth Stories!  And, let's see, Innana, Amanda,  and Ragey for the 6 Word Memoir.) 

And in the meantime, back to grading. 

That's a good one, huh?  Maybe that is my REAL 6 Word Memoir: "In the meantime, back to grading."