Recording Past And Present

As I have told you, I think, my memory goes in and out. My mother, my brother and my daughter have all wanted me to record my stories, but it was Reader’s Digest that got me started really thinking about it because my stories don’t have to be in chronological order. So in other words I can skip all over the place as I please, and I love doing that. So far I have told stories about my growing up in Iowa, I have told stories about my grandparents on each side, my mother, my father, my uncle and my sister. I have lots more stories to go. Sometimes I think I have completely run out of stories and then I smile and think, no way I have a long way to go.
What I especially love is reconnecting with high school classmates, relatives that I haven’t seen in years and posting stories about my mother-in-law’s life for her family. Her eyes just sparkle when she tells me she has found something else for me to write about.
I started doing birthday disks for my grandchildren. I talk to them, read them stories if they are small, and sing to them sometimes. For the older ones I play the kind of music that they like and tell them to keep their cd so that they can hear my voice when they are in their forties. I got started doing this because my mom and dad and I recorded our voices on cassettes in the sixties. You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear them laugh and play the electric organ, open Christmas presents etc. I put those cassettes on disks now so that they will last a lot longer.
I know that a lot of you have taken videos of your children and grandchildren but I didn’t have that opportunity, so this is what I am doing for my grandchildren. So far they like it now especially the little ones. The stories I tell on the blog will be archived for them forever I hope so that they will know where their Grandma Lu came from and how she lived. Oh I almost forgot, and that she had a lot of fun!