What would it be like...

Would you do just about anything for the benefit of your kids? What about your grandkids? What about their kids?

Whoa! Wait a minute, you may be thinking, I don't even have any great-grandkids. Most people reading this will not. But the question remains...would you want to do something for their benefit?

Ok, let's work this from a different angle. Do you remember the sound of your grandparent's voice? If you were able to spend time with your grandparents when you were a child, I want to you close your eyes for a minute and just remember back to a special time you had with them.

Are you back now? I'll wait...

How great would it be to be able to hear their voice again?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

My daughter was lucky enough to be able to remember times with her great-grandmother (my wife's grandmother) and her great-grandfather (my grandfather). Unfortunately, most of us are not that lucky. While my mother's grandmother was still alive when I was born and I have faint memories of her, she did not live long enough for me to recall a vivid memory of her voice. On the flip side, we have a recording of my wife's great-grandmother. Even though my wife never knew her, that recording is one of her prized possessions.

So...what would it be like to share your voice or better yet, the voice of your parent or grand-parent with your grandchildren (even if they are not here yet). How special would it be to leave a message specifically to them?

Back when I mentioned thinking about a special time you spent with your grandparents, I thought about the family gatherings we had as I was growing up, generally around holidays, and the family reunion we had each summer. One of my fondest memories is sitting and listening to the stories being told by and about them and their siblings. I wish I had recorded all of those stories that are now long forgotten. And how I wish I could have shared those stories with my daughter.

If this post has stuck a chord with you, I would like to challenge you to do something about it. Here is what I want you to do:

1. Tell your kids/grandkids how much you love them.
2. Get out your phone and record yourself telling them a story about something you remember about your parents when you were a kid.
3. Take the recorded audio and a photo of you with your parents (or if you don't have one, just use a photo of your parents or yourself) and create a video. If you don't know how there are some great sites online where you can do it for free (like Adobe Creative Cloud Express).
4. Upload the video at 3Speak and add it to the Family History Community along with a description of what the video is about.
5. Bookmark the video so you can show your kids again in the future and they can show it to their kids.

And now for the bonus challenge...periodically (no promises on exact timing), I will make posts with new challenges with the #FamilyStoryChallenge tag. My goal is for you to create a body of work that you can pass along for generations that will be housed on the blockchain so you don't have to worry about media becoming obsolete or degrading. I will also be offering tips on ways to make these videos more presentable and easy to navigate. The ultimate goal is to help you compile an oral family history that will be a prized possession for your family for generations to come.

I hope to see you next time in the #FamilyStoryChallenge.