How Do We Become the Person That We Are? M
GRACE HARLOW KLEIN
y first prose poem was written in the aftermath and death of my father titled, “What Have We Done to Him?” Five years later, my mother died in just twenty-two days after the diagnosis of metastatic cancer. Combined with events in my professional life, I began to write a stream of poems, maybe two hundred, on the themes of death, loss, transition, and change. Eventually they were published as books on the same themes. I had established a pattern of writing about events in my life and began to play with the idea It is also the pathway of my life’s work as a nurse, a professor and of writing a memoir. administrator that brought me to my work as a psychotherapist, now twenty-five years ago in our Center for Human In an emotional crisis when I was thirty-two, I began a process Encouragement in Rochester, NY. to answer the question of the book title, along with other questions. I was unhappy in the midst of accomplishments The memoir is not just about me; the “We” in the title is meant beyond what I ever imagined, and I had no idea how to even to convey the universal drive to understand self, and our life’s think about it. journey to create a meaningful life. In my studies in human development and in extended experiences in psychotherapy, I sought to understand how I had become the person that I was. Two years ago, with encouragement from Sheila Kennedy, I began to seriously address writing my memoir. It has been a consistent part of my journey to remember events, feelings, and being open to changing meanings I had assigned to events. In other words, writing my memoir has been a growthful, sometimes painful process in itself. My memoir is the story of my journey, my life experiences, and the drive in me that has propelled me forward all the years of my life. It is the story of my life relationships, including the love affair of my life which began when I was forty-five and met Armin Klein. 10
Grace Harlow Klein is a psychotherapist, artist and author. She runs her psychotherapy practice out of The Center for Human Encouragement in Rochester, NY. To learn more about Grace, her practice, the books and art she offers, please visit https://graceharlowklein.com/ The website is where you can order your signed copy of Grace’s Memoir too.
