Learning to Write Memoir

By Sherry Mendelson Davidowitz

I woke with a start, sweaty and frightened. It was the same anxious dream I’d had since retiring after thirty years as a psychiatrist. I was back in medical school unprepared for an exam when suddenly I remembered that I was already a physician and a psychiatrist. What was I doing taking an exam after having earned my degree? I was relieved to realize it was only a dream.

After I retired, I’d experienced waves of emptiness that remained with me for mo...