by Margaret Ashelman (Author), 1stworld Library (Editor), Dorothy M. Beal (Author)

What started as a meeting of minds quickly became a melting of hearts. What did I expect at our first gathering, a continuing education class in memoir writing? I knew, of course, that these students would be seekers, though not of my own 60s generation. These were people of my parents' age, who had families and careers and a whole lifetime of friends- and then somewhere in midlife started over in this community of meditators in Fairfield, Iowa, to help create world peace. I didn't anticipate how deeply they would connect to writing. Each of their stories, so simple, so honest, revealed deep truths of life. I could never have predicted how stimulating, how rewarding and how fun it would be to teach them. These students' minds were settled and alert. Instructing them was like dropping a stone in a quiet pond-the ripples reached the far ends of the universe and bounced back with even greater power. There was something magical about our meetings .....