Here’s a challenge-make a list of achievements that your parents or grandparents accomplished: 1. Both my mom and dad were the first to graduate from high school. My dad was the oldest in his family while my mom was the fourth child of five in her family.
2. My dad built a ham radio station and learned Morse code while a teenager.
3. My mom was one of the first women in Utah to learn how to use a ham radio and send/receive code.
4. My dad bought an airplane and became a pilot.
5. My mom became a telephone operator after becoming a widow. Just recalling these facts gives me a sense of pride in my parents’ achievements. We need to do more celebrating of our successes as families and individuals, less time dwelling on our failures.
In order to share something about your family’s background, you have to know about their lives. Ask them questions if they are still around or try to remember stories or events that your deceased parents or grandparents might have shared with you. Hopefully they or you wrote down some of their thoughts. Look for old photos, letters or news clippings for clues.
Some topics to get you thinking of what to write about as you look back on your life: who was your favorite relative and why, any fun family traditions or meals, nicknames that you acquired from others, what’s a word that would describe your family: faith, thrifty, loving, honest, struggling, etc. Can you remember any stories your grandparents told you about their parents or background? Then comes the next part to consider writing your own history. It can be an simple as a blog or as complicated as a published autobiography, but some day one of your descendents will read it and learn from your life’s struggles and insights.
NEXT TIME: Family Links. It’s never too late to record your family stories and histories. Lin’s book FIND YOUR VOICE, WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY can help you to begin this project, edit and then publish it. Available for $10, call 435 628-8522 or email <lin@sunrivertoday.com>