By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

What is your most favorite pet of all time? Is it a mutt you rescued from the pound? What has been your most enjoyable vacation so far? Did you ever take a cruise to a distant land?

If you thought of an answer to any of these questions or you would like to hear how others answer, you could be the next member of the Ann’s Choice Memoir Club.

Founded a few years ago by Howard Bennett, the casual club meets once a month and feeds off of group members’ favorite memories. “We just take a topic and write about it,” Bennett says. “It’s a way of delving into those memories. It’s creating that ‘aha’ moment.”

A perfect opportunity
“I gave a friend a ride to a bookstore ten years ago and saw a group doing something similar,” Bennett explains. “Then, when I moved to Ann’s Choice, I thought it would be the perfect idea for a club.”

Bennett wasn’t sure how the club would work, but he says after the participants started sharing their answers, he knew he had hit the jackpot. “We all have the same topic, but we always seem to get very different results.”

“Now the hard part is coming up with new topics,” he adds.

How it works
“It’s fun because it’s not graded,” says fellow club member Jane Bennett. “There’s no pressure.” Jane and Howard Bennett share the same last name, but are not related. What they do share is a love of the club. “We look forward to finding out what the topic is each month,” she says.

Howard Bennett delivers the topic to each member’s mailbox a couple weeks before the club meets.

Jane Bennett says that while she tries to write something for the meeting, if she’s busy with other groups or activities, she can still enjoy listening to what her fellow club members share. “When you hear all of these other wonderful  stories, it refreshes your memory about something you might have forgotten,” she says. “And it’s so nice to hear the different styles of writing.”