Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Record Your Stories

Inside us, we all have a story to share, a story of triumph, a story of healing, a story of blessing or a dear memory that we don't want forgotten.  The most ordinary of lives can yield the most extraordinary of stories.  No one wants to read your stories, you say? Don't believe that hype! I read a book put together by a woman I've never met, about her grandparents, whom I've also never met and was moved to tears! She put together one of the most beautiful books of her grandparent's love story and it was entitled The Dress.  It wasn't fancy or heavily embellished but it's my most favorite Heritage Makers book to date.

My children read look at their books over and over again. I've found it to be a great way to encourage reading when my daughter was first learning to read. We would read about Grandpa and Gigi and her birth story. What child doesn't want to read a book that features them (or some one they know) as the main character? And even better...what better way to share the stories of our family heritage and keep the loved one that they don't see often visible in our daily lives? Yes, the photos and the stories behind them are an important part of who we are and yes, they need to be written down. So here are the top 10 reasons you should record your stories:

10.  The world will be a richer place for your having written your stories.

  9.   In telling how you survived painful times in your past, you teach useful coping skills to your descendants and come to a greater understanding and peace.
  8.  The things you did when you were young are as remote from children today as the Earth is from Mars.
  7.  You are part of the history of your city, state and country.
  6.  There are many pieces of information nobody else knows about you.
  5.  The stories you heard from your grandparents will die without you.
  4.  Let your descendants know that you were a real person and not just a name on a tree.
  3.  You owe it to yourself and to your family.
  2.  No one else knows the stories of your life quite like you do.

AND...the #1 reason you should record your stories is...
  1. No one has a better perspective of you than YOU!

The Memory Keeper's Coach~Unknown or Known?

"I don't want to be unknown
The little things that make me who I am
I need to share
I need to know that someone cares

That I write down my dreams
That I love when it rains
I burn candles when I'm alone
More then anything
I don't want to be unknown
More then anything
No one wants to be unknown"

This is an excerpt from one of the songs on my personal soundtrack, yes I have a personal soundtrack-more on that another time. The song is "Unknown" by Chely Wright. No one wants to be unknown. The passion of memory keeping is so that it doesn't happen to you or the heroes of your family. If you take pictures, you are probably doing so, to capture a memory of a particular moment. The concept of taking pictures is to preserve that moment so you can reflect on it at another time. But a picture only tells half the story. This song inspired me to start a scrapbook about me and the things that me who I am; the things I enjoy, my friends and activities, my thoughts, dreams and aspirations. I want my children to know the woman I was before I had brought them into the world. If you don't tell your story, who will? Who knows you better than you do? Have someone take your picture, if you don't have a recent one, look at it and then get a pen and paper and tell the future about the person in that photo.

Thank you for stopping by, please come back again soon.

Sincerely,

Yolanda Ventura~The Memory Keeper's Coach