Thursday, May 23, 2013

Summer is just around the bend!

As our kids are getting out of school and summer plans take shape, I'd like you all to keep something in mind. We will take photos of all summer of vacations, picnics, and all those summer events. We will get those pages done, documenting those special memories so they will never be forgotten. As memory keepers we take pride in displaying those memories for all to enjoy. We document the events in our families lives. But who is documenting your life? Generations later, what will they know about you?

When was the last time you did a page about you. The music you love, or why you love summer so much. Have you ever done an album about yourself?

Woodstock middle school 6th graders have to do a scrapbook about a relative. I watched my sons do this assignment and wished it held more content of who the relative was. Of course we altered it after to include stories and photos. But it got me thinking of how important it is for those later generations to know and understand who we are. I want to know my grandparents struggles but never will. How hard it must have been to live apart till my grandfather sent for my grandmother to come to america. How did she run a farm while taking care of all her children for years while apart from her husband? I will never know.

These are why we save our family memories. So our grandkids will know where their personalities came from. When they have their own children, they will know, understand, and appreciate. Maybe you are fortunate to have your grandmother's diary, or letters from a relative.  Such insight is a priceless thing to possess.

Please don't underestimate the value of your own story. It will mean as much as your son's and daughter's childhood story to those whom you love and cherish.

Kim