Seize The Moment

I haven't posted much the last couple weeks. Let me drag out my excuses. #1 Busy. Doing what?

Housecleaning, scrapbooking, proofreading a book for Lantern Books, poring through census from the 1800s and other records for footprints of ancestors, preparing for my workshop at the seminar next week, etc. etc.

Three years ago I did a workshop at the ladies' seminar at Martindale. I was asked to do a re-run of the same workshop on Tuesday and Thursday next week. My title is A Word Fitly Written (leaving a legacy in cards, letters, diaries, journals, scrapbooks, family history, etc.)

The main point of my workshop is that we need to write things down so they are not confused or forgotten. For example, too many people do not label their photographs and in years to come they are unidentified faces. My great-grandmother's photo album was filled with pictures of ladies in gorgeous Civil War era gowns. I would dearly love to know who they are, but no names were written on the backs of the pictures. It's too late now. There is no one living who can identify any of them.

Every time a person dies without recording their memories it is the same as if a whole library burned down. Too often we wait until our grandparents, aunts, and uncles are gone and then think of a lot of questions we would like to ask them. Seize the moment! The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink.

Memories are a gift to be opened when the time we lived and those we love are far away. Life is so short and changes so fast. It might not seem like it right now, but these are the Good Old Days you'll look back on someday. Keep some souvenirs of your past, or how will you prove it wasn't all a dream?