My Grandad was the most amazing person who had such a story to tell. He was born in Poland but as a young man during the second world war, he was made to march through Siberia, at some points being so hungry they had to catch wild rabbits to eat. He eventually ended up in France where he met my Nana, also of Polish descent. He then served in the RAF and that’s how he came over to England. He wrote his memoir, but in Polish, and it’s been hard to get it translated. There are still so many details about his life I don’t know. I wish he had been able to tell us his life story properly before he died. Then I could pass it on to my children to know more about their family history.
Stories of a lifetime is a new service that helps provide a memoir for future generations in an easy movie format that you can keep forever. Yes, we can ask them for their stories and listen, time and again, but this is something a bit different. Let me explain. Stories of a lifetime work in chapters with different topics. These topics are:
- FAMILY HISTORY
- CHILDHOOD
- EDUCATION
- CAREER
- MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS
- PARENTING
- GRANDCHILD(REN)
- LATER LIFE
- WORDS OF WISDOM
- GETTING TO KNOW YOU
You can buy one, a few, or all of the chapters, depending on what you want to know. They are currently $36 per chapter. Each chapter comes with 10 suggested questions, which you can use, adapt, or write your own. The recipient can then easily record their answers to the questions, with support available if they need it. You can record with a phone or webcam. Then, the magic happens! Your videos get edited into a movie montage to treasure forever. It will be sent to you as an mp4, and also stored in their cloud so you will always have access to it via a password-protected area on the site.
Each chapter usually edits to around 30 minutes, which is about the right amount of time for people to record, and enough time to watch to be interesting and in-depth, without losing interest.
With so many unnecessary gifts of ‘stuff,’ this is a really nice present to cherish for all time and you will really get to know the person on a deeper level. Those memories really are priceless. My Nana had dementia, and I would really have liked this from her to remember her as she was. Here are some quotes from satisfied customers:
This solves the problem of wanting to know your family better, but not knowing what to ask
I wish this was around when my grandparents were alive
I think it’s such a lovely idea and reasonably priced. Yes, we can record video ourselves, but would we know what to ask, when would we have the time, and whether we would edit it as well as a professional? I especially like that it is stored forever for you, if you lose your recording for any reason, it’s there waiting for you, backed up when you need it. It’s not just for grandparents either, anyone can use it who wants to pass down their story. You never know what’s around the corner. I see so many bereaved spouses through my other job as a nurse, and having a recorded memory like this is so precious if your loved one then passes away.
What do you think, would you use the services of Stories of a Lifetime?
Disclosure: collaborative post
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