Slice of Life 2025: 26 of 31- Living life more than once

Throughout the month of March, I am participating in the annual Slice of Life Story Challenge, an event hosted by the team at Two Writing Teachers. Every day in March, I will share a story and comment on the stories of other participants. Please join us in writing, sharing, reading, and commenting!

Alan Wright used to slice in this community, and I loved the name of his blog which was Living Life Twice. He still writes a lot, although he doesn't participate in this challenge. I love the idea that writing and sharing allows me to revisit moments that have mattered and share them, talk about them, giggle over them, cry over them... 

March in the Meehan community is interesting because every interaction has the potential and possibility of ending up in a slice. There's a little joy and a little worry mixed with that. Our four daughters have been rotating through the house this month, and three of them are slicing. You may have already met them in the community. I've had many moments where I've wondered if a snippet of the conversation would be captured in writing. March Madness and Meehan Memoirs...

The other night, Julia was in bed with me, and we were watching basketball as she was doing some work and I was reading some posts. "Oh look," she said, showing me an email that had just arrived in her box. 

I smiled at the response she'd gotten, a little smug about the role I'd played. 

The next thing I knew, the bed started shaking a little as Julia couldn't control her laughter as she write a post. You can read it here. Yes, she wrote that slice while she was sitting right next to me. I've now lived that moment once, twice, and more, Writing and slicing and being in this community has given me that. 

Today's conversation with Larkin was across many miles, but it was all about the rightness of oldest daughers, and we both had some aha moments. I wasn't surprised that it was the focus of her slice today, and it was fun to read her written rendition of the conversation.  I have a feeling we'll continue to talk about it, but I wonder if we would have thought about the patterns and the truths without the power of written reflection. The moment would have been much more fleeting. 

And Clare was home and I thought reading and baking bread while I tutored, but I found out from reading her slice that she'd gotten a little afternoon siesta! She and I have been spending a lot of time together, and I've loved reading about her interpretations of some of the same experiences we've shared, and, when she's been away, I've gotten peeks into what she's up to. There's something intimate about these peeks. 

Yes, I teach students that they can write to entertain, inform, and persuade, but writing also deepens relationships and sustains memories. I've been struck this year at the interactions and connections between slicers, as well as the family members who have been willingly brought or coerced into the fold-- conversations about or within slices or even guest appearances have brought me joy. How lucky we all are for this community. We all get to live the moments we share on repeat and have an archive of written memories and comments as well that we can visit whenever we need it.