Writing Memoirs and Going Above and Beyond!

I have the pure joy of assisting an elderly gentleman write his family history and memoirs. It’s nothing flash or official but more a gift for his grand children, as his time here is growing rapidly shorter.

~5 years ago he suffered a minor stroke which has resulted in his memory becoming quite patchy.  I’ve been tasked with digitally recording and transcribing his memories.  I’m  attempting to put them into chronological order and decided against a word for word transcription.  I’m turning his mumblings into a beautiful life story.

Because of the life he has lead he doesn’t have any photographic history that he can include in his stories, no images at all.  So I decided to change that, I jump onto Google.  HELLO WORLD!

It’s been fabulous to find vintage photos and maps that relate directly to his life and incorporate them (with full credit) in his story.  I’ve been digging up background stories and am helping him fill in the gaps in his memory.  I’m really loving it, I’m diving into it for personal enjoyment and curiosity more so than anything else and I wouldn’t dream of charging him an arm and a leg for it.  I could sit and listen to the stories of elderly forever, so to be paid to do this is very much a Bonus.

It’s never too late to begin preserving your life story or the story of your parents and grandparents.