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| Mom and I around Mother's Day when I was 12 or 13. |
The other day, I was writing up the Ancestral History I was doing for my Family History Research class. I chose to write it on my mom, so I sent her an email with a few questions for her to answer to give me more information for the 10-page history. She sent me back a document full of information, over five pages single-spaced, with not only stories from her childhood and about her mom and dad but also a bunch of information about my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents as well. I am overjoyed that I have so much I can choose to write about.
My mom is amazing and I'm so proud to be her eldest daughter! I love her, and writing this history just made me appreciate her even more! I'm glad I've been given the chance to get to know her better than I ever did growing up.
I'd like to encourage writers everywhere to take time to get to know your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents as well as you can. Even your aunts and uncles and so on. Anyone who you might be related to. We have the unique gift of being able to write better than most, because we are constantly perfecting this ability each time we write and take a class on writing. Why not get to know our relatives and write them a history? Print it up for them or email it to them. They'd love to read something you've written, and it makes it more special when it's about them by a loved one.
Pretty soon, I'll be starting my personal history for that same class. I'm looking forward to this, and exploring myself more. I might even ask my mom to supply some details for my personal history that I can add. Then I can print it up and share it with my family members, along with another project I'm working on about my family and growing up with them.
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| My family in front of our house this past July 2011. |
It's days like this that I realize how lucky I am to have been given the talent of writing, and to have parents who encourage me in all I do, and to be in a wonderful Church that is supportive of developing my talents as well.
So on that note, continue writing! And if you have time, try writing a little more auto-biographical! Your family will love it!
<3Claire
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| Me now, at age 21 |
Good for you Claire! It is fun to get to know our family members better. I am taking a class on writing narrative biographies. Your post today is a great kick in the seat for me to get back on track and start interviewing people! thanks~
ReplyDeleteProbably the most important work you can do.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE genealogy. I always have. Before I was a member, my mom and I went to the "Mormon's Family History Center" near our house to look up our people. We wondered why the Mormons had such a place.
ReplyDeleteHa!
Now I know!
I'm sure your mother is thrilled that you want to know more. Ask lots of questions. My father was our historian and I still had so many questions I wanted to ask him. But he died suddenly and I was left to do my own research. It would have been so much easier if I could have picked his brain.
Just sayin'