Is Your Family Story Being Preserved or Will It Live Forever In The Cloud?

What is it they say?  "A picture is worth a thousand words". This is so absolutely true of a collection of photos like this one.  A few years ago, I began organizing my family history.  I started researching my ancestry, I did a DNA test, I organized hundreds of old family photos passed down from relatives on both sides of the family, and I began to more intentionally share our family history with our kids and grandkids.  I began displaying old photos so we could see and appreciate them on a daily basis.  What I found in surrounding myself with 'history' was that not only were my descendants learning about their ancestors, I was sparking old memories and rekindling my love and appreciation for those family members - many who were long gone. 

The collection in the display piece above (thanks to a gift by my brother-in-law many, many years ago) reminds me that my love of Saratoga Lake and all bodies of water is probably inherited from a long line of relatives who also loved and made so many memories on the same lake I grew up on every summer of my life.  It wasn't until 13 years ago that those times ended when my mom sold our family home on the lake.  To explain a few of the photos in this display (numbers on the photos):

1. This is a photo of my dad driving his fishing boat, his mother, my Mimier sitting arms crossed, wind in her face probably in the mid 1960's.

2. My mom driving the boat with Snake Hill in the background, an iconic sight present in so many old family photos as well as ones I've captured over the years.

3.   My dad relaxing while he fished, me imitating him, again Snake Hill in the background.

4.  Many years earlier, probably 1940's, my grandmother and 3 of her sisters-in-law, once again on Saratoga Lake.

The Saratoga Lake photo collection (only a fraction shown here) wouldn't be complete without a photo of me and my bestie, Ann Marie. (bottom center)

Ann Marie and I have been besties since 1957.  Although we grew up in Cohoes, she visited our then campsite at the lake many times.  I know she carries many memories of those times, times that included both of our families.

The only ones left in this group which includes her grandparents and mine are the two of us and her brother...a sad and stark reality.  Fortunately, my mom, who was the photographer, is still also with us.  While that reality brings a moment of sadness, mostly what this photo emotes for me is a feeling of gratitude, gratitude that even as an only child my 'family' extended far beyond the 3 people sitting at our daily dinner table.  I feel gratitude for having a friend who feels more like a sister with 68 years of experiences and memories shared - including our mom's hair permanent experiments that left us looking like we were brillo pads as evidenced above.

Beyond the shores of Saratoga Lake, I have evidence that my relatives enjoyed other bodies of water, including the ocean.  I have a photographic collection of them wearing a diverse variety of swimwear, some more comical than others.  These photos of great aunts and uncles, grandparents and even our own two girls when they were little all tell a plethora of stories of days gone by, all filled with summer memories and family times together.

My Great Aunt, My Grandmother and My Dad

They are a reminder that my grandfather's brothers and their wives were always an integral part of my dad's life and then mine.  Those great aunts and uncles were more like grandparents to me and were a regular presence at our Sunday table and holiday gatherings.   These photos are such a valuable part of my life. They tell the story of my past, they are my family's history, they are my family's legacy - on paper, a record of lives never to be forgotten.

What I realized back when I began to organize and showcase this collection was how lucky I am to possess such a concrete piece of history.  Because my grandmothers were both avid picture takers and my parents followed suit, I have an enormous collection of visible evidence of the family that came before me. Not only do I have a record of the times the family shared together, but also of each family member through the years and in many cases photographic evidence of the stories I've heard told at the dining room table, often more than once.  I have photos that help me remember times my mind has forgotten.  I am able to share those memories, those family times, those people with my kids and grandkids so that they too will have some familiarity with the people who paved the way for them.  In a small way, I am able to preserve those people, those times, those memories for years to come - even after I'm gone.

Today most people rely on their phones for capturing moments, from the birth of their babies to graduations, from vacation snapshots to first days of school.  We capture life's most important moments on cell phones.  Those moments, those precious memories rarely exist outside our phones or on our cloud back-up.  How, may I ask, will we share those moments, those memories that mean so much, with generations to come?  What will future generations have to serve as witness to their legacy?  

I take hundreds of photos on a pretty regular basis.  I always have.  I have thousands of photos of my girls growing up, stored chronically in photo albums.  When our first granddaughter was born, I took photos daily.  I printed them and had two albums, each with 200 photos - all before she turned 2.  After that I stopped printing photos. Each year I print a photobook for each grandchild which includes all the photos taken that calendar year - some I've taken, some their parents have taken.  I wanted to ensure they would have a printed record that would last through the years, one they could look at easily.  Recently my second granddaughter was looking through my photo albums.  After looking at her sister's two albums, she asked where her albums were.  She was not happy when I told her I stopped printing photos when she was born, but that she has books with the photos in them instead of individual photos in an album.  That didn't really appease her; she was sad she didn't have an album of her own. 

What will your ancestors have to remember you and your family's history?  What I hope this post accomplishes is to encourage you to not rely on digital photos that live on your phone and in your cloud back-up to memorialize your family history.  When you are gone, your grandkids won't have access to your cloud storage. They won't be able to flip through photo albums or loose photos in a shoebox.  They won't be able to see you enjoying the same vacation spots where you spent your summer vacations, or playing sports you played as a kid.  They won't be able to look at a photo and imagine those family holidays of days gone by. They won't have a tangible, visible history of your family legacy.  And won't that be sad?  I know how easy it is to snap a cell phone photo.  I may still use a camera for most of my photography, but only a fraction of the photos I take, even the best of them, rarely end up in print.  I urge you to begin to take the time to print some photos, even if it's the highlights of your year.  You may feel you don't need them, but trust me - your kids and grandkids and generations beyond will wish you'd made a tangible record of your family and your story!  I'm grateful my ancestors did and I thank them every time I look at them!  The least I can do is pass the favor on to my own kids. You can too! It's not too late to start today!  P.S.  If you're lucky enough to have old family photos tucked away in a box or old albums....dig them out and display them.  Use them to share old family stories and to tell your kids and grandkids about their ancestors.  Let their stories live on!