Our memories are too important to let a global pandemic get in the way of preserving and sharing them.

I find I’m not doing a lot of reminiscence writing these days–just a little journaling, trying to capture the weird day-to-day of this COVID19 thing, one day focusing on sounds, another on sights, and so on. I want to remember how neighbors suddenly exchanged cheery greetings, the thwack of staple guns from the construction site down the street (are those workers safe?)… The sight of near-empty streets, the blue tape Xs on the floors of the retail stores I still enter (pharmacy, grocery). The smell of Spring, humidity returning to my Wisconsin landscape as April unfolds.

How will I use this blog during this strange time? Please help me.

Let’s mine our memories for stories of resilience. Queen Elizabeth showed us the way when she spoke about her first radio broadcast as a young princess in 1940, reassuring children who were being evacuated from London to the countryside for their safety. She called on a memory of past resilience and used it to encourage us all.

What is the story of your resilient moment, when you faced a challenge and came through?

Maybe it was a lesson learned from mentors and teachers, the “Yoda” who expanded your skills and understanding in ways so profound it was like handing you a light saber. Maybe it was something you learned on your own, the Hero on your Journey crossing the threshold, meeting the challenge, grasping the boon and bringing it back to your people. Maybe it’s not your story but that of an ancestor whose example inspires you.

See submission guidelines here–then send me your true RESILIENT story well told. Let’s help each other through.

• Sarah White