I wish my parents were still alive to see this book, the story of their lives.
They would have loved it and been so grateful that the family created it for them.
I didn’t know this type of thing existed until my daughter brought the idea to me.
I was thrilled that she would want to honor my parents, her grandparents, by capturing all of our family photos, events, and memories into a photo book.
I enjoyed helping her organize all the information that she gathered and answering her questions.
It was a lot of fun seeing it come together.
Kathy put a lot of hard work into it.
I especially enjoyed helping her with the final editing and in helping decide how it should end.
Families typically don’t have an end, they keep growing, but a book has to end, so I suggested we just need to pick a date and that will be the stopping point for the book.
I have the book sitting on a side table in my front hallway and most anyone who visits asks to see it and is fascinated with it.
I probably sit down and look at it 2-3 times a year by myself, and even more often when friends or family come over.
Friends love seeing what my life was like growing up on a farm.
And of course, when I get together with my brothers and sisters each year, we love flipping through it reliving fond memories and sharing some good laughs.
I can’t tell you how amazing it is having all of our family’s history in one place, AND in chronological order.
It is so much better than a photo album.
It is so special, so personal and unique, it’s the story of our family.
My advice to anyone thinking about doing something like this for your parents: JUST DO IT!
And do it while your folks are still around.
It will be so rewarding for them and you.
You will not regret it!
It is just so wonderful to have it available to you.
And as we get older we really do appreciate memories more and more.
We were fortunate that my mom kept such detailed handwritten notes of family events, which at the time didn’t seem all that important, but when I look back now, I so appreciate all the memories she captured, and now they are preserved in one place!
~Jan White
(Photobook for her parents: 75 Years of Marriage and a Lifetime of Memories (144 pages, 361 pictures, spanning 8 decades – Legacy Package)
