The Sage-ing Guild Communicator
Changing the paradigm from Aging to Sage-ing®

In youth our ignorance gives us courage with age our courage gives us hope with hope we learn that man is more than the sum of what he does we also are what we wish we did and age teaches us that even that doesn't matter. —Nikki Giovanni

A-musing

Leaving a Legacy
Chuck Warren in Winter Haven, Florida led a journaling group under the Sage-ing banner. One gentleman has a grandson who lives in another state whom he seldom sees. After the young boy went to see the movie "Saving Private Ryan," he asked his grandfather on the phone about his experience during the battle of Normandy. He knew that his grandfather had been a member of the invasion troops at Normandy. The grandfather told the grandson that he could not talk about it.

Later, he thought his grandson had a right to know what part he had played during the battle even though he could not speak about it. He was able to write about it though, so he e-mailed his grandson a brief description of his participation.

After receiving the initial e-mail, the grandson e-mailed the grandfather with some specific questions. The e-mails which flew back and forth turned into a journaling project for the grandfather so that all of his grandchildren would know more about his life. The grandfather gave the journaling experience credit for his developing relationships with his grandchildren that he had not had before due to their geographic separation.
—DJ Doice

Sage-ing and the Courage to Reminisce
I had returned from Knoxville, TN after spending ten days with my mother. She is 87 years old and is at that pivotal point of being able to stay in her home of 53 years, but probably not for long. My brother and I are faced with respecting her wishes and also knowing that we need to prepare ourselves for making a change. I spent the ten days, going through the house and closets, sifting through the mementoes, photos, clothing (even some of my mother's when she was a young woman) and taking an intense walk down Memory Lane. I have never been able to handle taking this deep look into the past before, because it brings up not only the good memories of the past, but the very sad memories also.

I believe that the Sage-ing work that I have become so familiar with has given me the courage and the tools to open those closet doors and "take it on". To go through my sister, Jane's things and honor her short life without the usual heart wrenching tears was a huge breakthrough for me. I felt soothed and comforted as I examined the report cards, letters, photos, clothing, stuffed animals and the items that held meaning for her. It allows me to know her better; the more I am able to observe the pattern of her life and the young woman she had become at 19 years old, the more memories of our times together seem to come back to me.

So, I feel I have been "living" Sage-ing for the past five weeks as Mom has been with us for the past month during our family's joyous celebrations, and then traveling "home" with her for this period of "Life Review", and recalling the "Significant People and Actions in My Life." I have experienced this contemplative work so intensely for the past ten days that I feel that I have emerged on the other side a changed person. I feel lighter and more loving and loved, by not only my living family, but also those that have gone before.
—Anne Boynton, SG Intern