::::::::::::: Six-Word Memoirs :::::::::::::
Less Is L’Amour
Tales of love and heartbreak—in half a dozen words By LARR Y SMITH
Met very young. Growing old together.
REGINA LEVIN,
54, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bank call-center operator
...............................................................................
Unending journey, undying
passion, unclaimed baggage.
DELORA JOYCE HUGHES,
73, San Antonio, Texas
Retired teacher; now adjunct professor
First love lost, 14;
married, 50.
JOYCE MASON,
61, Rocklin, California
Freelance writer
Romance blossomed then.
Love blooms now.
ALANA OWEN,
50, Haslet, Texas
Computer-science technician
After 30 years…
alone, not lonely.
HERVE WIENER, 57, New Rochelle, New York
Machine technician
Good housekeeper.
I got the house.
NANCY MCPEAK,
64, Xenia, Ohio
Retired bill collector
He took my hoe.
I followed.
BETTY SODDERS,
72, Archer, Florida
Semiretired Realtor
.....
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten—or given? Tell us as a six-word memoir. If we
use yours, you’ll win it printed on a T-shirt. Go to
aarpmagazine.org/6wordmemoirs.
10 AARP SEPTEMBER&OCTOBER 2009
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WE SEN T OUT AN
online call for readers’
six-word memoirs
on love, and we got
back volumes on that
exquisite emotion—
and its loss. Again and
again, writers made it
clear: no amount of life
experience can truly
prepare you for the
complexities of the hu-
man heart. Next issue:
your holiday traditions.
Larry Smith, editor
of smithmag.net, is
coeditor of Not Quite
What I Was Planning:
Six-Word Memoirs
by Writers Famous
& Obscure (Harper
Perennial, 2008).
