Whether I have been speaking with a book club consisting of a handful of members, or addressing a room with hundreds of people, the highlight of every presentation and book signing is the ability to share stories. A young man of 11 shared his interest in stories about World War II. A woman of 92 years told me about growing up during the Great Depression and the war and the hardships on her family. Her only regret was that she had not taken the time to write her family’s story. The stories rendered most often are centered on the love of family.
“Anyone with a heart, with family, has experienced loss. No one escapes unscathed. Every story of separation is different, but I think we all understand that basic, wrenching emotion that comes from saying goodbye, not knowing if we’ll see that person again – or perhaps knowing that we won’t.” Author Luann Rice.
Whether you have shared a story about yourself or a member of your family with me at an event, by email or on social media, I offer you my sincere thanks.
One of the greatest gifts we can give our family is to record our recollections. Once we are gone, so are our memories. I am grateful that I interviewed our grandparents in the 1960’s to record what they could recall about our family history, which began our compilation of the family tree. I regret that I do not have an audio or visual recording of them relating this history, and that I did not think to do that with my father – oh the stories he could tell! With the technology available to us today, we should preserve our memories so that those that follow us will not feel the same loss.