Your life written in a six-word memoir

Writing a life story would take most people pages upon pages and, well, a lifetime, but at the Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center people were asked to write their life stories — in six words.

The Adult Summer Reading Program’s six-word memoirs are on display in the library, as well as ones from a library in Alhambra.

“It was fun and interesting, and we thought our patrons would like it,” Reference Librarian Christine Moore said.

Huntington Beach traded memoirs with Alhambra and the differences were interesting, Moore said. The Alhambra memoirs tended to be six separate words describing their lives instead of a six-word sentence, Moore said.

Some of the memoirs were also in Chinese.

“We don’t know what it says, but it’s interesting,” Moore said.

The six-words were turned in anonymously, which was part of the charm, Moore said.

One that particularly intrigued the staff was about them.

“I’m in love with a librarian,” one memoir said.

Others were less secretive and more optimistic with “No more cancer. Living happily ever after,” and “Never too late to begin again.”

Others were more cryptic.

One patron wrote, “One, no change. Three changes everything.”

All the memoirs will be on display until the end of September.