As a child, one of my favorite memories were those sitting at the feet of my grandparents as they told stories from their past. I learned about their experience with the Great Depression, time spent in an orphanage, the end of segregation, and so much more. Although I also learned about these historical events in school, their personal stories were invaluable. As we sit and think about our time in the pandemic, we truly are living through a historical event in an unprecedented time. It brings about thoughts of how we might share and pass down memories to our future children, grandchildren and generations to come.
When we think about our future and end of life planning, we often consider things like living wills (used to direct our wishes for physical belongings, finances, and estates) and advance directives (used to designate an individual and provide guidance for making medical decisions). Another thought in preparation for our future is to develop a living legacy to pass along our blessings, memories, experiences, and values to our loved ones. Maybe this is something you have done in your family, but if it isn’t, how neat would it be to know the legacy you established during your lifetime would be preserved for your future family?
Although our current time in the pandemic isn’t ideal, what a blessing it is to have extra moments to spend quality time with our loved ones. As we have this extra time, why not use it to document our memories and start our own living legacy? This might look like writing letters, stories, collecting pictures, or even home videos to save for the future. This site is an excellent resource to create your own time capsule. It includes pages for both adults and children and even has extra pages for graduates, new parents, birthdays, etc. Hopefully, this activity will also spark meaningful family conversations. For parents, consider making a copy for each of your children. For children, make sure you have a copy and one for your parents. Our hope is for your family to create some meaningful memories and make a mark in your family history.