A few years ago, right before my 40 th birthday (OK let’s be honest almost 12 years ago) a mystery package appeared on my doorstep. When I opened it I discovered an absolute treasure trove of family pictures. Several pictures were of my brother and I growing up but many of the pictures were of people I didn’t even know. I pretty much figured out that the package was from my Aunt who was in one of her cleaning out phases so I decided I would try to get as much information out of her as I could. My Aunt is notoriously tight lipped about anything to do with the past, and I don’t really blame her since her family experienced some unbelievable tragedies. Phone conversations didn’t seem to work so I finally photo copied a bunch of the pictures and sent them to her. I figured she could write down the informations at her own pace and send it back. She did eventually send it back and the one thing I found really sad was that she couldn’t remember one of her brother’s names. He had died in WWII when he was only 20. Since then I have been able to do a little research and I did eventually figure out his name (Edmond, he’s the young man on the left) but it really got me thinking about the telling of stories. My aunt is the last surviving family member of her generation and she recently had a pretty significant health scare. In some ways I can feel that time is running out for learning her stories so I want to capture as much as I can. I am also feeling a real desire to write down some of my stories so that when my kids find my photo albums someday they wont find a bunch of pictures with no names and no stories. This year I am actually being very intentional about writing down at least one story per week. Doing this is making me search through my family pictures both physical and digital which is a pretty neat thing to do anyway. Now that it’s so easy to take pictures it’s amazing how many I have hanging around. I can already tell this is going to be a bit of a journey, sometimes sad, sometimes funny. I gave up New Years resolutions a while ago, now I pick themes. I’m calling this the “Year of the Story”. Consider this story number one.
Be sure to check back tomorrow to see who wins the Aurifil Thread.
I am in complete agreement. Our stories are a part of history and I've always loved visiting with older people because I am fascinated with their stories. Thus, I became a scrapbooker. I've fallen away from it a bit, but I need to pick it back up so thank you for the inspiration to do so. My scrapbooks have always been about the story more than the decorative stickers although I do enjoy choosing colors to coordinate with the photo. I always need lots of space to journal.
Posted by: Ranch Wife | 01/10/2013 at 07:52 AM
I hope you get many stories from her this year. Being a historian, I value very much family histories, so big kudos to you for recording your for your children and their families to come! Look forward to seeing some of the discoveries you get from your Aunt. :)
Posted by: Lynette | 01/10/2013 at 08:12 AM
Last summer, we had a gathering to celebrate my Mom's life. She had passed away the previous March. We had family from all over the country come for the week-end.... and boy were there stories! What I found so interesting is they were often remembered differently. I felt a sadness that several of my grandchildren were not able to be there. Thinking back, I wish I would have written them down. Your plan for the year is a great gift for your family. I think I'll be more intentional in my journalling to write more stories; I often focus on how I feel about things rather than simply telling stories. As always, your blog inspires me. Thanks!
Posted by: Becky Ganzhorn | 01/10/2013 at 08:40 AM
My sister put together a photo book of my mom's family for a cousin's wedding present (Mom's cousin, that is). My grandfather was the second of six brothers! Now most of the extended family want copies of the book. When Mom's aunt saw one photo, she cried; it was from early in her marriage when the couldn't afford a camera. Definitely write down the stories, and give each of your kids copies.
Posted by: Tina in NJ | 01/10/2013 at 10:07 AM
There is a woman named Kerri Bradford that is doing a class right now that is basically geared toward doing this exact thing. She is creating a journal full of stories about herself and creating templates for others to do the same. It is done once a week over the course of the year. You might check it out and see if it would help keep you on track! Sounds like fun.
Posted by: Laura K | 01/10/2013 at 10:14 AM
Thanks for putting up this post. It is very timely for me, as my father passed away a few days ago at the age of 87. We will be going to his viewing in a little while, and the funeral is tomorrow. Dad left a large family of nine children, 26 grandchildren, and 31 great grandchildren. We shared lots of stories these last few days. Dad was a good story teller, and we enjoyed hearing some of his favorites over and over. I think I will follow your lead and write some of them down, along with some of the cute stories about my grandchildren.
Posted by: Linda Enneking | 01/10/2013 at 10:39 AM
I love this post. I'm amazed that your aunt couldn't remember her brother's name. Thanks for sharing your story.
Posted by: Lisa E | 01/10/2013 at 01:45 PM
Erin, that is sad but I wonder how many times this happens? Probably more often than not. All of these stories unless taken care of will fly by the wayside in hundreds of years and lost forever. So your inspiration doing a story per week is a great idea. It will capture the histories before they fade forever.
Thanks for nudging me with this same endeavor. It has been something I've been wanting to take care of for awhile and now you've re-lit that dream of getting done in my horizon. Jane
Posted by: Jane | 01/10/2013 at 02:36 PM
I have a book called The Photo Scribe A Writing Guide; How to Write the Stories Behind Your Photographs by Denis Ledoux http://tinyurl.com/b5lv32a that I have found invaluable. The older generations in my family are all gone now, and it is my generation that is the oldest. This book has helped my when my aunt and MIL were alive. Good Luck.
Posted by: paula.thequilter | 01/10/2013 at 04:43 PM
What a sweet way to pass on your family history. I spent my mother's last few weeks going thru boxes of old photos with her. It was such a gift to us both to relive her memories and share many laughs.
Posted by: Kris S | 01/10/2013 at 05:16 PM
What a wonderful idea. About 10 or 15 years ago, I sent my grandmother a fill-in-the-blanks autobiography book. She completed parts of it and sent it back to me, but I misplaced it somehow and I really, REALLY wish I could find it now that she's gone and has taken her stories with her. It's crazy to think that soon the entire WWII generation will have passed. I think that their memories of wartime have been a powerful force for peace. Seeing "Saving Private Ryan" is nothing like actually living through wartime.
Posted by: Rebecca Grace | 01/10/2013 at 07:50 PM
I loved this post too. I've had a similar experience. Long story short I do genealogy and encourage others to do the same. If you need any free charts to stay organized I have a couple of favorite sites I could send you.
Posted by: Liz S. | 01/12/2013 at 11:31 AM
There is a product out there called Project Life by Becky Higgins. It is a scrapbooking product that helps you chronicle your life. It is a great "New Years" challenge to take pictures on a set schedule (daily, monthly etc) and just journal about it and document it. I know a number of friends who used it the first year of their baby's life and then tucked it away as a keepsake. They have both paper and digital products.
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/products/
Posted by: Beth Metcalf | 01/21/2013 at 08:35 AM