As a kid, I was bored to tears when my Dad would start telling a story or trying to make a point with a long-winded “when I was your age…”.  I had no interest and did not want to listen.. I’m sure my kids feel the same way about me now, but they won’t always.  Now that my father is gone (over 10 years) I’d do anything to hear him tell those stories one more time.

Do your family members hold stories that are special, make you laugh or tell the history of your family?

Do you wonder what your great-grandfather would have said about growing up in his era?

It is fascinating to think about how different his days would have been to life as we know it now.  X-Box and iPads and the ability to carry around the whole world in your pocket by way of a cell phone was not even a dream.  Today, they are standard household items!

Do you ever wonder what was standard for your grandmother, what felt as life changing as those things? Was it having her own car? A certain appliance in the kitchen? Or a home phone?

Sure, maybe you’ve got photos of your grandparents. Or some of family members before that, but the stories of those photos become lost over time. I love the look and feel of old photos. I love flipping the yellowing pages and trying to create a story in my mind about when those photos were taken.  But I know, when my kids look through these photos, it is like looking through a book of stock photos.  They carry very little meaning, they don’t know the people within the pages and they feel very little connection to them.

But think about this for a minute… what if you could actually see a video of your great-grandparent? To hear their voice, know their mannerisms, see their body language and really get to know them? You might say something like “Oh! Grandma always talks with her hands just like I do!”, or “Wow I didn’t realize Pappy had such a great laugh!”.

So yes, in a pinch, and if there is nothing else, photos will do.  But we can do so much better than that.

By now you know my father’s stories were long.  I’ve made that point enough.  Here’s the thing, I don’t know if my great-great-grandfather also told long stories, and I never will.  But my kids, and their kids, will have some questions answered like these.

We have an opportunity today that we have never had before. We live in a world where many things are already digital, and those that are not, can easily be made that way. The great thing about digital photos and videos is that they don’t age. They don’t yellow and they can be duplicated to share with as many family members as you have.

At Securing Memories, we work to provide the guided questions, prompts and ideas so all you have to do is read them and press record! By doing this you are on your way to not only building a digital legacy, but also learn some things about your family members!

When you are finished recording, upload your photos to this permanent, secure, lifelong storage here.  Your first 2 GB are free for you, and you will earn $20 (usually $15, currently on promotion) towards future purchases.

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