Catch it While You Can

We would all like to think that the important points of our lives will live on forever in the minds of others. We would like to think that those who have heard about us will faithfully pass along that information to those who come after us. But let's get serious. People struggle to revive the facts, events, and impressions of their own lives. This leaves little time for them to focus on your life.

We would like to think that we will get a chance at the very end of life to wrap our story up in a neat little bow and pass it along, but we may not be able to communicate our thoughts at that point. Recall and the ability to impart our wisdom are not guaranteed up until the end. We need to capture our video memoir while we still can.

There are two women in my family who have passed to the other side. One is my great aunt, Mattie. She passed back in 1989 but I have just recently been drawn to the box of photos and memorabilia that she left behind. I was enthralled by all the wonderful images, many are seen on our website, and I delighted in finding her notes and letters. As I sat with my cup of coffee taking all of this personal evidence in, I realized that I was forced to create my own story to weave them all together. I did not know her full story, I only know the bits and pieces others have mentioned, not truly knowing if any of them are completely accurate. I will never know who the people in the pictures are, nor will I know any context for the notes and letters. All of that is lost to human recollection. She lived 91 years and I will never get to know her, or to know what she learned while on the planet.

The other woman is my mother, Audrey, who passed in 2017 at the age of 92. The last few years of her life were pretty rough. She lost the ability to understand what was going on around her in her day-to-day life, let alone remember her life story. Luckily, I videotaped her full story five years before she passed. All of these sessions are available for her grandchildren to see, along with being secured for all future generations. While the facts she shared in the video are important to carry forward, the parts I love the most are the impressions she shared about her upbringing and adult life. When you finish the videos you understand so much more about her. Enjoying her quick smiles and easy laughs will tell more to future generations than will any flat photos. No one will need to imagine what her life was about as they will have heard it from her directly.

Don't wait until it is too late. Get what you have now and know that you always have the option to film additional volumes in the future. Your stories, your thoughts, and your feelings are important to preserve.