Make a Memory: Author Lisa A. Kramer

Make a Memory is a movement, a challenge to turn
I wish I had into I’m glad I did in 2015.

Reach out and claim an adventure this year. Make a Memory before it’s too late.

Author Lisa A. Kramer never thought a flight from Boston to Nashville would change her life. “I’m going to come and walk with you on the Natchez Trace!” Lisa, a complete stranger, proclaimed by e-mail. I believed I knew her from online correspondence, but would we deplore one another on sight?

She and Tori Nelson traversed eight miles of the Tennessee Trace with me.

We Made a Memory or several
during the two days she walked.

But her real journey started when she flew home to Massachusetts. She incorporated exercise into her life, and in less than a year, she shed unwanted weight and found a slimmer Lisa. She finished her debut novel P.O.W.ER, got it published by Word Hermit Press and was just invited to be a featured author at a book festival in Maine. Through her dynamic appearances, she challenges everyone to find, use and celebrate their unique powers, gifts we all have and often hide.

Lisa is Making a Memory.
Every day.

I hope Lisa’s contribution to Make a Memory will inspire your own idea.

Make a Memory, in Lisa’s words:

When you first asked me if I would contribute to “Make a Memory” I froze. Just over two years ago I watched as my father fell into the hole of memory—as he succumbed to Alzheimer’s. I will forever feel guilty because of lost opportunities to make more memories with him, and even to truly say goodbye.

I still cry thinking of the last time I saw him,
and wishing I had done something more.

I was determined that things would be different with my mother. So last year, when my in-laws wanted to take us to Disney World, I insisted my mother come as well. My parents had always wanted to take Sarah to Disney, but my father’s speedy decline interrupted that dream. I wasn’t going to let my mother miss the opportunity.

However, while that trip was memorable for many things, they aren’t all positive memories. We all had some wonderful moments, and some painful ones. Despite my hopes, the moment wasn’t one the memory I dreamed of.

As I began to think about this question, I realized something.

The memories that live with me the most
came from unexpected moments.

A car ride with my mother when I was in college where we were having such an honest and serious conversation that we missed our exit; my father reading a book to his only grandchild; Sarah climbing up and down the stairs at my parent’s house on her first birthday; finally understanding how much my parents loved each other at the last Thanksgiving with my father. My life is filled with so many of these moments, but none of them were planned.

Maybe I‘m not meant to make memories
so much as be open to the possibility of memories.

I need to be in whatever moment I’m in, whether great or small, and open to the messages that I may not yet understand. Perhaps that sounds a little woo-woo, but it’s my reality. I don’t think I am successful at making memories, but I am good at gathering them. That’s my new goal.

About Lisa A. Kramer:

Lisa A. Kramer has spent her life learning, creating, and exploring the world through theatre, writing, traveling and collaborating as an educator. She has lived in nine states and two countries (including Japan). She holds a PhD in theatre for youth, an MFA in theatre directing, and a BA in english language & literature and theatre. She has published non-fiction articles in journals specializing on theatre for young audiences, as well articles aimed at young people for Listen Magazine. In addition to young adult novels, she has ventured into the world of short stories, and has stories for adults in several of the Theme-Thology series published by hdwpbooks.com and available on kindle, nook, and kobo. When not writing, Lisa shares her love of the arts and the power of story as co-founder of Heartful Theatre Company and as adjunct faculty at various colleges and universities. She also spends time enjoying New England with her husband, daughter, and two dogs from her home base in central Massachusetts. To learn more visit her at Lisa A. Kramer: Woman Wielding Words (www.lisaakramer.com).

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Read Not Without My Father. Grab a loved one. Make a Memory that will live forever. The Huffington Post calls Not Without My Father “one literary ride you don’t want to miss!”

Click to read a sample of Not Without My Father

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