Capturing the Stories of Your Family Tree

​by Skip Cohen

We're in what many of us think of as mid-summer. Spring seasonality is long gone, but there's still plenty of business out there - both directly and in planning for the fall. Normally my Marketing Monday posts are about ways to grow your business, but today's is a little different. It plays upon your abilities as an artist and family member more than it develops your business/operational skills.

One of my wife's favorite one-liners is, "Don't should on yourself!" Well, this is a post deeply rooted in my "shoulding" on myself. Learn from my mistakes, so you can create new ones of your own!

Here's the backstory: My Dad passed away almost eleven years ago, and my Mom, two years before that. My grandparents died many years before. At this point in my life, there's nobody left who knows any of our family history. I have lots of old photographs and little stories over the years, but what I don't have is a video collection of my folks telling us about their lives, both as a couple and individually. I wish I had those stories, and my grandparents' too.

Companies like Ancestry.com can trace my roots, but that's not what I want. I want video coverage of me just sitting with my folks and talking about our family and their lives. I want the stories!
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It's a four-generation shot on the right. My mother, great-grandmother, grandmother, and me. I've got plenty of pictures - but not the stories to go with them.

​I've referenced the Senior Friendship Centers in Sarasota numerous times over the years. They're a nonprofit that, each year, delivers thousands of meals to hungry elders, provides adult daycare, a Caregiver Support Center, and more. I couldn't be prouder to have been on their Board for many years and support the way they give back to the community.

One of the programs they started doing many years ago was called "My Journey." It's a recorded interview giving seniors the chance to talk about their lives and create a legacy recording for their children and grandchildren.

I love the concept, but to take it a step further, ALL of you can do something similar. And you have the gear and the skills to do this in more depth than a recording. You've got the ability to create family videos with virtually whatever level of sophistication you want.

​This has so much potential to capture memories, starting with your own family. Don't wait until everybody is gone to say, "I should have taken the time!" Take advantage of all the family time coming up over the rest of the summer and into the fall holidays.

This is especially important if you've got grandparents or great-grandparents alive. Make it a point to get time with them and capture those stories. Ask them questions about their childhood and growing up. Have fun with questions about the kind of kids they were; things they did in school; specific friends, pets, and places they visited. The list of information it would be fun to have and share is unlimited.

​Don't make the mistake I did - Take the time to become your family's historian. You never want to look back and wish you'd captured/created a video about your roots!

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