Why Tell Your,  or Your Family’s Story?

           The reasons for deciding to have your biography or your family’s history written or recorded are as varied as the individuals who consider doing it! You may simply wish to preserve your family history and the stories you have heard over the years at family gatherings. You may realize that as a child growing up there were stories and anecdotes you heard that will soon be forgotten forever if not preserved for future generations. There may be a special accomplishment you have achieved, or something your family has achieved that has special significance for family members, community members or others. You or another family member may have led an extraordinary or unusually interesting life, and would like to see it described in some broader format that the family can keep and pass on. You may feel that you have learned many valuable lessons over the years and would like to leave a record of them, especially for your children and grandchildren.

          You may have recently come to the realization as to just how little you really know about your grandparents, and want your grandchildren to know more about you. You may wish to capture your parent’s story and know that you will never get around to it before it is too late. You may be looking for a unique and lasting gift – your story or the story of a loved one. 

        There are so many potential reasons for wanting to capture your biography or your family’s history. The important thing to remember is that it should be done, and done properly.  

        Every life has a story! And every life story is unique in many, many ways. Your memories are a priceless treasure that, if left unrecorded, will die when you die. This may sound cold but it is the cold truth! Each generation whose story is passed on verbally, finds that as time turns into years and years turn into decades, the stories seem to get shorter and farther between until they disappear entirely.  Each precious memory that fades with time is a piece of history lost forever! There is an old Indian Proverb that says, “Tell me a story, and you will live in my heart forever.” I would add the following to that quote, “Record me a story, and you will live in everyone’s heart forever!” 

        Though the facts may remain on charts, the dates, names, etc., it is the little pieces of conversation that complete the picture of your life or the family history. The stories told around the kitchen table, the little anecdotes about how life was are the thread that weaves together a life full of lessons, memories, values and love.  

        Memories are priceless. They illuminate the past of a person’s life and help to bring meaning to the experiences we have. They are what connect you to your family and your heritage. They are what provide a timeless legacy for your children, and their children to enjoy for generations. But they fade with time, and leave this earth when you do unless properly recorded for preservation. 

        Your life and your family history are part of a unique legend that lives and breathes each day that passes: a dynamic collection of traditions, stories, experiences both good and bad, that make you and make your family what it is today.  

        Can you imagine for a moment waking one morning without a single memory? Who would you be? Who and what would be important to you? It is your memories that define who you are and your place in this world. Without them you are nothing. Yet, most of us do not treat our memories as the priceless gems that they are.  We tell ourselves that one day we will record our memories. That one day we will begin to write our memoirs and finally put to paper those stories that Grandpa used to tell about his childhood. Someday we will sit down and write out our thoughts, begin a journal and keep it faithfully, making entries each day about things we think and feelings we have. Few of us realize this dream! Believe me, because I know from experience.   

        Unfortunately, there are as many or more reasons why we are not able to record and preserve the memories that make us who we are as there are reasons why they should be recorded. The way to preserve the memories and recollections of your lifetime or the history of your family is to record them with a personal historian.