One Story at a Time

You do not have to write your entire life story. You only need to begin with one memory worth preserving.

My Father in Stories

When my father died in 1991, his canned obituary was woefully inaccurate, both in spirit and fact. It listed names and places wrong and said nothing of what he had accomplished in his lifetime.

It irked me for decades.

Over thirty years later, I wrote a truer version. I first posted it on Facebook with pictures and the response from readers who knew him and my family across the years were truly inspiring. Yet even that does not contain the many smaller stories that reveal who my father really was. Dad appears in many of my family stories, but three reveal very different parts of the man.

My Father's Obituary	"Be safe, Bri," Dad Said	"Look at Him!"

One Story at a Time

My Father’s Obituary corrects the factual record. “Be Safe, Bri.” preserves the words that became his lifelong mantra to me. “Look at Him!” captures a rare moment when my quiet father could not contain his pride. The first story drew from family records, photographs and facts that had been recorded incorrectly. My memory was the source for the second and third.

But these are not the only places my father appears. In the separate blog Hell Getting Old, I remember him sighing, “It is hell getting old, Bri.” In Home with Kathy, he surveys the shed he built and quips, “Good enough for government work.” At the end, I finally answer him: Yes, it was, Daddy. Yes, it was.

The record. The voice. The moments.

Each story was written separately, at a different time, because one memory felt worth preserving. Each became something useful—a Story Portrait, a one-sheet or a blog—not an unfinished piece waiting years for a book.

That suggests another way to preserve a life. Start with one story. Complete it. Quality-check it. Approve it. Preserve it in a dedicated Narrative Workspace. Then stop—or tell another story whenever you are ready. There is no obligation or sales pressure to continue. That finished story becomes the source. From it, you can create the Narrative Assets that are useful to you now—a written narrative, a Story Portrait™, a one-sheet, a blog post, social content or several of these together.

One source story. Many possibilities.

You might begin with a Story Portrait and decide that it is exactly what you wanted. Or the same approved story might also become a longer narrative, a shareable blog and a series of social posts—each serving a different purpose without requiring you to tell the story again.

Then stop. You already have something finished, useful and worth preserving. Or tell another story whenever you are ready. There is no obligation to continue and no pressure to commit to a larger project.

That is the idea behind One Story at a Time:

One memory → one finished source story → many possible Narrative Assets.

If additional stories accumulate over time, they can become a growing personal or family archive. Only if you choose, those stories might someday be organized into chapters and developed into a book. But that decision belongs to another day.

Today, you only need one story.

Digital Tributes

Some of our most treasured testimony is buried in social-media accounts—uncurated, scattered and difficult to find. The best material is often written by loved ones in their own words: a memory shared on Facebook, an anniversary post, a photograph with a few heartfelt sentences, or a birthday remembrance for someone no longer here.

Digital echoes that help preserve a life.

These first-person glimpses should not disappear into digital clutter. I find meaning in gathering those memories, adding context and shaping them into stories that can be found and shared again. It heals me to write them and to watch them travel through Likes, Comments and Shares—digital echoes that help preserve a life.

More Than One Version of a Life

The three stories about my father were never intended as a connected set. They were written at different times, for different reasons, each complete in itself. Of course, none of them is the definitive story of Walter Christian Jensen.

There probably is no definitive story of any person. A life contains too many roles, relationships, contradictions, hardships, victories and small moments for one account to hold them all.

But each finished story adds another piece. That is why starting small is not settling for less. It is often the most practical—and most honest—way to begin.

One Story at a Time is how you begin. One Source. Many Possibilities is what that story can become.

B. Patrick Jensen

Captivating Memoirs Studio

www.captivatingmemoirs.com