Life takes us all in funny directions. We move as the wind blows, affected by so many different things that it is all but impossible to account for them all.
This year has been like that. Mostly just free flowing, blowing on the wind from one day to the next. Usually heading in the same direction, with the occasionally turbulence to pull us aside and make sure we stay on our toes.
This year has been a very good year in most ways, and kind of tough in other ways.
How have you been? Did you travel?
Any new births and deaths in the family this year, how about last year?
Has anyone found out anything new about George Zimmerman?
Has anyone decided to plan a family reunion for any portion of the Carpenter Family? I will be happy to post that so you can spread the word.
Have you sat around the campfire and swapped stories about... anything? Why not write them down. Record them and send me the audio file, or send me a tape and I will get them transcribed if they are not too long.
Digital audio recorders are dirt cheap these days and it makes a great way to capture those stories before another generation leaves this life and becomes a part of history. We can capture that history while it available to a living mind who can recount the tale.
The current generation is becoming more aggressive about writing down their experiences. Blogging has become a tremendous opportunity to hear the thoughts of another human mind. But not all of those alive today are hip to the new technology. So, those of you who are, please take steps to make it easier. Give grandmother and grandfather a digital recorder and go over their regularly to get the files and keep them safe. You may not even do anything with them. Maybe it will be your children or grandchildren who get around to converting that to some usable format. So, get them recorded and then they are not lost.
YouTube is another avenue worth exploring. With so much opportunity, why not make recordings that are worthwhile and share them via TouTube with the family? We can blog that, or it becomes a searchable record. The reality of how these tools can be used to make current history come alive is really something we all need to take a good look at. One day, we will be that lost generation. Our own stories need to be recorded for posterity. If nothing else, just to share some part of ourselves with that next generation.
Please become a contributor to this website. My mission is to collect and share those stories. But I need you to collect and share them first.
I hope to hear more from all of you soon. I will also take my own advice and start collecting more stories from my branch of the family tree.
: Joseph W.
