A parent's life story, in their own voice

A few of the 380 questions

What is your full name, and who chose it? Were you named after someone?Where do you live now, and what is it like there? Take me round it.What did your parents tell you about their own childhood and youth?Were there people in your lineage you are especially proud of, and why?What did your home smell like when you were small?Tell me about your first nightmares or recurring dreams from childhood.Describe one ordinary day from when you were seven or eight years old.What were you punished for unjustly, and how did you carry it?What music played in your headphones, or your speakers. When you were sixteen?Was there a moment in youth when you understood what kind of person you wanted to become?Tell me where you studied after school, the institution, the city, the years.Did you study abroad or in a city far from home. What did that journey give you?Who taught you your craft, and what did they pass on without saying it aloud?Did you ever start over in different work? What did that cost you?If you retired, how did you say goodbye to that life, quickly or slowly?How does the love you had at twenty-five compare with the love you have now?Was there a song, a film, or a place that became the soundtrack of your love?Tell me about each of your children, who they are now, what each one is like.What changes in you when a grandchild sits on your lap?Tell me about the longest friendship of your life.

If I had never seen you, how would you describe yourself to me?Tell me about your profession and your work. What you have been doing in the last years.Tell me about your brothers and sisters. Were you close as children? Are you now?What was cooked in your home on holidays and on ordinary days. Tell me about your family’s signature dishes.What were your favourite toys, and what happened to them?What were the punishments at home, for what, and how were they served?What lies, fantasies, or stories did you invent as a child, and why?Who was the teacher who saw you, and what did they see?How did you imagine your future at fifteen or sixteen?What did you think of your own body when you were seventeen?Was there a teacher in higher education whose voice you still hear?What is your true education, the one that came outside any institution?Who were the colleagues you trusted most, and what kind of trust was it?What did you build with your hands, your mind, or your name that still stands?If your work had a sound, a smell, and a colour, what would they be?What is the kindest thing your partner has ever done for you?How do you keep love alive when life becomes routine?What did being a parent teach you about your own parents?What did you give your children that you wish someone had given you?Has a friend ever saved you without making anything of it?

Which languages do you speak? How did each one reach you?Tell me about your father. What kind of man was he?Are there legends, myths, or stories in your family that pass from one generation to the next?What does the word “home” mean to you, which images, smells, sounds does it carry?Describe one of your earliest memories, the very first scene you can still see clearly.Describe one cherished winter, the snow, the cold, the lights.What memory of your mother from childhood do you carry like a photograph?How did the children at your school treat each other. Describe the unwritten rules.Was there a teacher or mentor who steered your life in a different direction?What lie did you tell your parents that you still remember?Were there subjects you were forced to study and now thank for it?What was your first real job, and how did you end up in it?Tell me about a decision at work that you spent a long time turning over.What was the best advice about work you were ever given?How did you meet the great love of your life?Was there a love that arrived in the wrong moment of your life?Tell me about the day you knew you were going to be a parent.How did you handle the first time your child openly disagreed with you?Tell me about a quiet ordinary supper that, looking back, was its own kind of celebration.Describe one friend by what they laugh at.