Years ago, I read a beautiful book called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure edited by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. The premise, based on Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” is that contributors summed up their lives in six words. Famous participants include Margaret Atwood and Stephen Colbert, among others.
I thought about the book last year when I was at my medical school reunion. A dozen of us sat around a round table and talked about what we had been up to for the last 30 years. After we finished, we concluded that the overriding theme was that all of us were doing something different than what we thought we would be doing. I found that concept refreshing, and I suspect it might reassure current students who feel burdened with big decisions. This year, “Not Quite What I Was Planning” is the theme for my college reunion’s Class Panel.
Check out the book!
