Have you ever held a picture in your hands and it takes you back to that moment complete with touch, background sounds and even smell?
Randomly sitting in boxes , drawers and closets are, our collection of prints.
Our treasures.
These are the memory keepers of our personal story.
They help us reflect and remember a life well lived.
Dont lose your visual inheritance to disasters like a fire or to the ever changing tech landscape (anyone remember slides/old movies/VHS etc )
Our intentions are honestly good, 'one day' we plan on pulling out those prints and doing something more with them.
But the task of starting a huge endevour has us putting it off to 'another day'
But that day nevers seems to be the 'right day' to start.
Overwhelm certainly gets in the way.
Where do I even start?
Step 1: Gather and Bring them in to one location ( dark closet)
Step 2: Create a Family Time Line for your Family
(This will eventually be your reference file
tip: You can start with your immediate family and grow it out from there )
On a sheet of paper write out your rough draft of dates will include:
Start/End Dates are from the oldest to newest print
Major events like marriages / house / property purchased
feel free to add additional papers to add information , this timeline is ever growing
*World events in decades may be added ie ) immigration/war may help prompt dates
* You can add this in later if you wish , it makes for good history for future generations.
World events : include those that time stood still.
...when it happened you distinctly remember what you were doing on that very day
as you may want to revisit this and record in more detail.
What were you doing/how did it make you feel?
ie)
August 16th/1977 @ 3:15 pm
We all sat there, no one moving from the hospital parking lot for quite some time.
Staff sitting in disbelief & shock to the news coming across the radio station .
I distinctly remember that hot summer day, I had just gotten off a D8 nursing shift from the Misercordia (Peds Floor)
and as everyone else did, turned on the radio ; while going about the rest of the day.
The King of Rock and Roll had died.
Time stood still, a time marker for those of us who grew up listening to Elvis songs.
The kind of day that marks time you can easily can recall on what you were doing.
Another example would be 9-11