Memories are important to every individual, family and group of friends. Arguably, one of the biggest attractions of Facebook has been allowing people to get in touch with their past. Of course, that is not always a good thing. We all have certain times at high school that we would really rather not remember.
However, most of the time, we like to share memories with our friends and tell our kids all the old stories; whether they want to hear them or not. It’s good to be able to look back on the past and remember. We are very lucky today because it’s easier to discover and view memories than it’s ever been. It’s also easier to preserve the events of today, to create memories for the future. Here are three memory related projects that the whole family can take part in.
Storing memories in one place
Across America, families have a ton of old photographs and movies that tell a story of the past. The problem is that many of these powerful memories are stored away in boxes, amongst other items, and forgotten about. Spend some time as a family gathering together all the movies and images you have, and create a digital version, so that they are all preserved in one place forever.
You can convert Super 8 film and photographs, so that they can all be stored in this way. The originals can then safely be boxed up and preserved and you still get the benefit of all those memories, by being able to access the digital version whenever you want.
Starting a family tree
There are are plenty of online genealogy sites available, but starting a family tree can involve simply talking to people about what they remember of the past. Go with your kids to speak to their grandparents and great-grandparents and you can make notes about all the dates, places and people that are mentioned. You will be amazed at how many new things you learn because “you never asked before”.
Creating a time capsule
We create new memories every day, and it’s important to preserve them. Technology makes it a lot easier to do that today than it was in the past. For instance, many people take selfies wherever they go. A creative way of preserving memories as a family is to create a time capsule.
The capsule can them be buried and dug up in 10 or 20 years, so that you can enjoy all the good times again. You can include anything you like in a time capsule, from a video diary to wrappers from your kids’ favorite candy. Just remember that whatever you include needs to be able to invoke memories in the future.
Remembering good times, and even less good times, is an important part of family life. These projects can help you and your family bring the past back into focus and make sure that you will be able to remember what made you happy today, in a few years time.
