Yesterday was my turn to take my friend to her next-to-last radiation treatment. When she finishes this, she will need another round of chemo treatments. While waiting her turn to be called, she was recounting to me how she was going to advise all of our friends, particularly the younger people, that they should be talking to their parents and grandparents to get their stories about their lives, because once they’re gone, those stories are gone as well.

I asked her if she was recording any of her memories. And she said that yes she was. She’s remembering a lot of little things about the games she used to play, her parents, the food she liked and disliked and the tricks she played on her mother when she didn’t want to eat something. She’s remembering the things her mother would tolerate and the things she wouldn’t and often she would push the envelope with her.

This afternoon my son called me. He is very excited because tomorrow he and his two nephews are leaving for a hiking/fishing trip to the Recessed Lakes above Lake Edison in the California Sierras. This is one of the few places where you can catch Golden Trout and that is his goal. He wants to make this a trip they will remember. I reminded him that I wanted to see pictures.

As I was dusting today I was looking at one of my favorite pictures which is of me, an uncle and his best friend. Oh, how I had a crush on his best friend when I was 16. Of course he considered himself too old for me then and he passed away at a young age. I’m glad I have that young-at-heart memory of him.

All of this makes me think of the many ways you can capture history in the making, as well as preserve the past.

Scrapbooking is a good way to do that. There are so many ways to make scrapbooking help you to keep the past, from the very complicated to the very simple. I prefer the simple myself, since it takes less time, but still reflects the same flavor.

While preparing your memory scrapbook, don’t forget to put in an oral explanation of the picture. You may want to recount where the picture was taken, the year and time if you have a record of it or can remember it, and why that particular picture was taken. Recounting a funny episode about the people in the picture will make the picture come alive, and enhance the enjoyment of those who see it.

You can then include the audio recording with the picture as well as a transcription (written documentation) of the audio.

But being the computer fanatic that I am, I prefer digital scrapbooking. The beauty of this is that you can place pictures in your account along with the verbal and written explanation of the pictures, and you can easily make copies. This would make a wonderful Christmas gift to family members. (Yes, I know it’s June, but not too soon to be thinking of those gifts you want to make for your family.)

You can have others contribute to the oral and written portion as well. Voices and pictures have a high impact on the enjoyment of your memories. A small, digital recorder which can be downloaded to your computer will work very well for recording your memories.

I’ll leave you with one last story of a friend who recently lost her father. When they knew his days were numbered, and while he had all of his loved ones around him, they got out the recorder and recorded a few of his memories, particularly how he had met and married his wife. A beautiful story. She got that transcribed and has distributed it to all the other family members.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Patsy Bellah is the owner of Great Transcriptions where the spoken word becomes the written word. Check us out at http://www.greattranscriptions.com

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