I am from the King James Bible and the Singer Sewing Machine and the ‘52 Chevy.

I am from the hand-built house with a smokey fireplace, an outhouse, a grand piano, and hollyhocks by the front door.

I am from catching fireflies in the evening and snapping string beans on the porch swing.

I am from Christmas Eve at First Baptist Church, Hamilton, Ohio and prayer before meals with Floyd and Eleanor and Jerry Winkle.

I am from “Grau-girl” width and the Winkle family nose.

From “God can use a sharp axe better than a dull one” and “when in doubt, don’t” and “you can be and do anything.”

I am from the church family who was always there and the last to leave. As a child I had a “drug problem” - I was drug to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and times in between.

I am from Ohio and German hard work, from veggies from the garden and a freezer full of beef raised by an uncle. From a dead end road between Hamilton and Middletown and just inside Fairfield Township.

From a quiet grandmother whose burial featured a perfect double rainbow and a great-grandmother who smoked a corncob pipe.

I am from a pump organ built by a great uncle with his father and dozens of photo albums made by my mother, the products of her Brownie camera.

I am from the dining table where we all gathered every night and now is mine.

Now write your own. Google “Where I’m FromTemplate” and you will find the format and many examples.

This is a fun activity that is likely to call up memories that have been long asleep. Enjoy!