Tell Your Own Story

You are the most important connection to the past. The story of your life, hopes, dreams, and lessons learned are of the most value to your children and grandchildren, simply because they have known you. This record becomes even more precious to them when you are no longer within their reach.

It is important for you to document every aspect of your life that you possibly can. Do not become overwhelmed. Start today. Little by little you will fill the annals of history and greatly influence the lives of those you love most.

Keep in mind that they will not only be interested in specific details about your life, but they will also profit from knowing the reasons why you made the choices you did in your life.

Do not be discouraged if it seems that no one is interested in your history or that of their ancestors. Many of us have made the mistake of taking for granted those we have around us each day, however, we would be hard pressed to find those who have lost loved ones who no longer long for the influence those loved ones had in life. The opportunity to speak from the dust, so to speak, lies in you ability to leave a legacy today.

Purchase a notebook or journal and put it near your bed. Every night, write down the experiences that you had that day and how you felt and handled opportunities that came your way.

It is necessary to do this each day because even we who have these experiences forget them all too soon.

Tell about the trials of your life and how you overcame them. Speak to them on the words of those pages as if they were hearing firsthand. Tell of the joys you experience.

My own journals have become a great source for stories that I want to preserve for future generations. I do not want my own story to become the most longed for by my posterity. I hope that I can anticipate what things they will want to know most about me and make my story available to them.

Perhaps you would like to take the challenge of writing and publishing a 21 page story about your life. With the help of this LIFE STORY MAP, you can write your life story as you answer basic questions about your life. Once your story is complete, contact me and I will show you how to turn it into a cherished family heirloom.

I recently published "Women of Strength: 7 Generations," where I told stories about
seven generations of women from my daughter's maternal line. You can preview the book:

"Women of Strength: 7 Generations"

(click the link above)

Keep Your Photographs in a Safe Place

You probably have at least a few treasured images by now.
It is important that these photos be kept in a safe place where you can access them easily.

Pictures fade and can deteriorate over time. After having a computer to crash, and cd-roms to malfunction, I was desperate for a better way to safeguard my photos.

I started using a flash drive until it was full. Before I went to storing on the external hard drive, I found Heritage Makers.

Now I do not have to tote anything around. I have access to my photos anytime and everywhere I go. My family even can go online to my account and download photos which are the same quality (usually 300 dpi) that I uploaded.

Now when I fill my digital camera, I create an album and upload the jpegs, and I have an Premier account which includes unlimited storage. You can scan old photos and upload them by category. You can start your own basic account password protected for free today. Just go to Heritage Makers. Click on the link at the top right that says "Sign up for free." Activate your account and add photos right from your computer.

We will discuss how to stay organized as you research your family history. How many of us have photos just laying around without captions? I received this photo of my grandfather, Emory Wallace Vance, from my cousin Bill who just recently passed away. He went through all his photos and gave them to extended family who would recognize them and cherish them. I had never seen this photo before. My grandfather was a banker. He is walking downtown Columbia, South Carolina. I do not know the year.

The photo had faded and was damaged and had white spots. I taught myself how to restore photos and have since used this picture in the book, "Brought Home by a Story."

Photo restoration is very costly. I know people who have spent a fortune. As an incentive to you, when you sign up for you free basic Heritage Makers account, I will restore one of your damaged photos for free and provide you with a 300 dpi jpeg. Just attach the photo to an email. My special E-mail address: powerofstory@gmail.com