(December 2011)
Dear Mom,
Brett and I thought long and hard about how to cross this item off our list. First we thought we should buy you something really expensive, like a car or a vacation…but we quickly realized we don’t have enough money for that. Then we thought we should give you a lifetime supply of babysitting coupons to redeem, but ultimately thought that might be selfish on our part.
And then it hit us. We needed to give you something meaningful.
With that in mind, we would like to present you with the gift of storytelling. Enclosed you will find an empty memoir book, full of writing prompts to help you reflect on your life—the good, the bad, and everything in between. It is our hope that through this process you will find time to learn more about yourself, and develop the legacy that you want to leave for your children.
Your story is important to us, and it will be important to our children, and our children’s children. This book will stay with our family forever, to be passed down from generation to generation.
We really couldn’t think of anything more meaningful than that.
We love you very much,
Brett & Ashlee
_________________________________________________
One of the items on our pre-baby bucket list was to do something nice for our parents. I never got around to blogging about it until now, but we actually crossed this off our list last December, when we presented our parents with the gift of storytelling. We wrote the above letter and ordered three engraved memoir books; one for my mom, one for my dad, and one for Brett’s mom. By that point, Gene’s dementia had already taken away his mental capacity to finish such an intense project, but lucky for us, he had already written a memoir for his family.
Now that Gene has left this earth, his book of memories is one of the most prized possessions in our home. This past week I have read all about his childhood, his time in the Navy, his career in sales, and of course, his marriage and family. His stories are written simply and concisely, never using more words than necessary to describe adventure, mischief, and lessons learned throughout his life. I hope that if I live to be 80 years old, I’ll have a story just as good to share.
If you want to know the story of someone in your life, don’t hesitate to ask them to write it down. The gift of storytelling is the gift of legacy, and it’s one of the most powerful gifts you can give.
My grandmother passed away two weeks ago, and one of the things that I am incredibly grateful for is that she was so cognizant of the stories and information she had to share. She learned how to use a computer in the 1990′s and typed up her whole life story. She also created documents and folders of all of her recipes. I started saving all the letters and emails she sent me last year, and while I haven’t had the heart to look at any of them recently, I know that one day I’ll be very grateful for all that she was able to put down in writing. And I’m looking forward to (soon) devoting a day to making the cookies, all by myself, that she so patiently taught me how to make. This is such a lovely idea, Ashlee–might ask my mom to do the same thing soon
Christine´s last [type] ..Postcard from Charleston
C- I am so, so sorry for your loss. How impressive though that she learned to use a computer and was able to type up her story! I know how much you will cherish that!
this is such a sweet idea. I’d love to have my grandparents do something like this. thanks girl
Jackie´s last [type] ..friday faves [part 6]
I love it! When my mom was pregnant with me, she apparently gave my grandmother a book called “A Grandmother’s Memories” for Christmas one year. When I was 16 my grandmother gave it to me for Christmas, all filled in with stories about her youth, about meeting my grandfather, about her experience as a new mom and then a new grandma. It is such a precious gift and I definitely want my children to have something similar. This is such a great idea Ashlee, I love it!
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That is so cool! I need to talk to my grandparents about writing down their stories, ASAP.
One of my most prized possessions is a scrapbook from my great grandma. She lived in the 20′s in her teenage years and she has old letters from family & friends, old photographs, and trinkets that she saved from that era. There is nothing that I cherish more than knowing where my family came from, what our family was like decades upon decades ago and learning that even now, I see a part of me through all of that. I too, want to leave my story for my (future) family – it really does mean so much more than anthing else that I can think of.
Holly´s last [type] ..right now… & some links!
That is awesome. I bet there are a lot of really amazing photos and trinkets in that scrapbook! The 20′s were such a unique decade.
I LOVE this idea and thank you for sharing it!!! I am pregnant and to announce our news to our parents we gave them a grandparent memory book. I love how this book is of keepsake quality to be passed down from generation to generation. I would love to give this as a gift to my grandmother and parents.
You’re pregnant?! EEK! Congrats lady! That is such a cute way to tell your parents. Love love love that idea.
This is such a beautiful idea! I love that it’s a handwritten memoir, too. These days when everything is digital it’s easy to forget about the importance of seeing someone’s actual handwriting… I sometimes love to pore over my great grandmother’s letters to me and study her writing. It makes me feel that much closer to her and the memories.
Kaleena’s Kaleidoscope´s last [type] ..On cake and life lessons
That’s so true…although I have terrible handwriting so I’ll definitely need to type my story. I feel like older generations have better handwriting because they didn’t grow up on computers. Technology has made us so sloppy!
This is such a beautiful idea, Ash. I might do this for our grandparents this year. Thanks for the idea.
Britty´s last [type] ..IN MY HEART
This is SUCH a good grandparent gift, especially if they are retired and need a project!
this is such an amazing gift. I hope to do this for my family and capture all of those stories before it’s too late. Thanks for the encouragement.
Michelle´s last [type] ..Pumpkinpalooza
This is such a sweet idea! I so want to do this with my family!
Stacey´s last [type] ..stuck in the mud.
I fully believe in the power of family history and record keeping. I LOVE this idea. Do you have any other suggestions of beautiful books that do the same as the one you bought but at a little cheaper price by chance???
Hi Becca! I think Amazon has a few different ones for cheap (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Lifetime-Keepsake-Personal/dp/0970062680/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349720705&sr=8-1&keywords=engraved+memoir+book). If I come across any others, I’ll let you know!
I am doing this FOR SURE! You mentioned “writing prompts.” I’m thinking those could be a few words at the top of the page or even a leading sentence/paragraph, that could influence the style of the entries. Would you mind sharing a snippet (or all) of your prompts?
Thanks for sharing this idea – I can’t wait to give these out!