Writing a memoir, as I have recently done, offers the chance not only to reflect on your life but to give expression in words to its meaning. Rather, one should say, to its meanings.

 Probably, you will recognize and perhaps develop themes that run through the times of your being alive. They will serve as markers in weeks, months, and years that otherwise can seem chaotic.

You can bring to mind the decisions that brought you closer to your goals. You can also think about the actions that went wrong, along with the mistakes in judgment you made.

 You get to put into some order the myriad events that have taken place over many years. And you can recall at least some of the many people who have had an impact on your life.

 Places, too, come back to memory and play a part in your recollection. If you have saved letters connected with those places, so much the better. Long after my return from a two-year stay in Europe, my mother handed me a packet of my many letters to her. They have proven valuable sources of information about my thoughts and activities during that sojourn, recollection of which would have been long lost.

 Writing a memoir proves especially appropriate for later life, as I have discovered through doing it.