How to Preserve Your Memories

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Tell the story of your family.

There are so many questions I will never have the chance to ask my father.

I never really knew him well. He was a piano jazz man, a good-time musician. He lived in a beach apartment, his mammoth Steinway overpowering the tiny living room, leaving only a chair, an old TV, and a zebra print rug. He spent his days teaching piano and his evenings playing music in beach bars.
At one of his gigs, a friend and I showed up with a video camera. Always the ladies man, he was quite taken with her, a leggy blonde forty years his junior. We set up the camera and kidded around and interviewed him. He flirted with her and told stories.

I wish I had delved deeper and asked more questions. There is so much about him I will never know, because the memories went with him when he passed away.

The tape itself was nothing special - just him playing piano and flirting. But there are some things you can't put a price on, and one of those is having a memoir of your dad after he is gone.

What would you give to have a video of your own grandmother sharing her thoughts and wisdom? Consider preserving your own memories to pass down as a legacy. What would it be worth to that grandchild that will be born after you are gone, to have a video made for them, passing on life wisdom and family history?

Whether you are preserving the memories of someone you love, or your own memories to pass down as a legacy, it's so important! You can have it done for you by a company that does this (like mine), or do it on your own. But do it!

Here are some approaches:

Get out the camcorder. What do they remember about growing up? About their grandparents, parents, and children? What are their values? Do they have any advice?

If you don't have the capability to do video, have it done by a professional, or consider making an audiotape. However, a video is much more memorable. A professional documentary that incorporates photographs and home video, "A&E Biography style," will create a lasting legacy that tells the story of your family.

Make a decorative scrapbook, mixing writings, pictures, and letters to that child or grandchild.

If you do video or audio, or if you have old movies or tapes, be sure to have them transferred to CD or DVD to make sure they are preserved.

However you do it, with a little planning and effort, you can put together a lasting family heirloom that can be passed down for generations.