A Legacy Bio should reveal who you really were to future generations. When you are filling in the blanks for this project, add some feelings and stories, hopes and dreams and let the people who read it know a little more than the who, what, where and how – give them some of the WHY. Remember, you don’t have to share this with anyone if you don’t want to and you can attach it to your will with specific instructions on when it will be available for reading, or not. So, let’s get personal:
If a stranger saw you on the street, what are your physical features and typical behavior that would make you memorable? (Sure, include the birthmarks, moles and tats)
Do you wear any specific colors, clothing, pins, jewelry and other accessories?
Do any habits give you away – humming, winking, whistling, tics, favorite sayings (gee whiz), pencil behind your ear, etc?
Childhood, a time that holds memories both good and bad. Some repressed and some easily expressed. As you move through this section of your Bio, various things will pop into your mind – don’t ignore or edit them, let them be. Perhaps smells, tastes and sounds will trigger further thoughts about where you come from – let them, encourage them, record them. Don’t be afraid to come back to this section and add memories as they occur – this is who you are!
What do you know about your birth?
Do you have any knowledge about your mother’s pregnancy and the first few days of your life?
When were you brought home, or were you born there? If you were born in a hospital, which one?
What was the name of the doctor, your birth weight, length and were there any challenges for you or your mother?
Do you know what your first word was?
What do you know about your personality as a very young child – can you check with your parents or siblings? Precocious, talkative, smiley, inquisitive, colicky, etc.
Do you know when you began walking, talking, potty trained and any stories of mischief you got into? This is your chance to add a little color and personality so readers get to know the real you.
IF YOU WERE ADOPTED, a section follows just for you because we’re special. Otherwise, that’s it for this week. You might want to revisit a few times over the next few days as more memories pop into you mind – and they will. Please tell friends about this Legacy Bio format and the fill-in-the-blanks process. They can get the updates automatically by subscribing to my website and can receive the pdf FREE of charge when the series is complete. Ok, now for you adoptees – move to the next section:
When were you told about your adoption, who told you, what did they tell you?
Do you know anything about your birth parents?
What do you know about your adoptive parents and how and why they decided to adopt you? Do you know anything about when they brought you home? How old were you?
What else would you like to know?
Were there any reactions from family members about your arrival that you remember or heard about?
What unique challenges or opportunities presented themselves as a result of being adopted?
You may have additional information about your birth parents, place of birth, circumstances, maybe even hard information that you would like to record or add here. This is the time.
A little self promotion now: I was adopted too. I wrote a book about it called My Secret Mother that may be helpful for you or any birth parents who gave up a child for adoption. Information is here.
To put this into perspective, what do you know about your father or mother’s life story, how about your grandfather or grandmother? Where were they born, where did they go to school or work. Even if you have an idea of those answers, what kind of depth do you have in terms of what their dreams and hopes were? We all want to know where we come from and not just geographically. For most of us, it does not occur to search our roots until we ourselves start to confront our mortality and wouldn’t it be nice to be able to pick up an interesting, well thought out and organised biography of a loved one and learn who they were.