Last summer I moved my mother out of the condo she had
resided in for 10 years into a smaller “independent living” apartment. In years prior, I had moved both her and my
grandmother out of homes they had lived in for 40+ years. These types of moves conjure up all kinds of
emotions- sadness, nostalgia, anger, apprehension, dread. Contemplating this got me thinking about how
such a move can really be an opportunity to more deeply explore our family
history, and the role the places we live play in it.
A house becomes so much more than 4 walls and a roof as our
families grow inside it. It transforms
into the place that we think of as the keeper of the memories- newlyweds
setting up housekeeping, bringing baby home from the hospital, birthday
parties, homework sessions at the kitchen table, bumps and bruises, accidents
and injuries, backyard barbecues, proms, weddings. The cycles of everyday life and the flurry of
important milestones all take place with the house as a backdrop. If the walls could talk, the stories they
could tell!
But walls can’t talk, so we have to do the talking for
them. Cleaning out a parents’ home can
be an opportunity to find the documentation of all these memories and take
steps to preserve them, so the legacy of the home can be passed down through
the generations. We may never again pass
through the doors of the house, but the home continues to be alive in our
memories. Many years from now when
someone drives by the house, which may be greatly altered, they can smile and
recall the stories that have been carefully preserved and passed down.
There are bound to boxes and boxes of pictures that capture
those special times in that very special place.
Now is the time to develop a system for digitizing them- software and
scanners are developing and changing at a very fast rate. One product I own which I heartedly endorse
for both its convenience and performance is a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner. It’s a small flatbed scanner that runs on
batteries and scans everything to an SD card that can be easily transferred to
a computer. It’s great for scanning
things on the go, and can be purchased on Amazon. There are so many
options for software that edits and organizes digital photo files that
certainly there would be one that would fit your budget, time constraints, and
technological capability. I use the free
software offered by Google called Picasa.
It’s basic features make it easy to edit and organize your digital photo
files.
Once you have them scanned, share them! A great vehicle for this is starting a
Facebook group. I have had a group for
descendants of my great great grandparents, Alfred and Lydia Spencer, for
several years now. This group includes
50-odd members from all over the country.
Some of us know each other, some of us have never met. There’s nothing like posting an interesting old
family photo to get a discussion going.
We have debates on who the people were, what occasion they were
celebrating, whose home they were in.
Somehow remembering and reflecting on these people and places makes them
feel like they are using Facebook right along with us in 2015!
Saying goodbye to a home that has meant so much over the
years can be painful, but it can also be an opportunity to connect on a deeper
level with the past. As I get ready to
leave my home of 24 years, I know the memories will stay with me, because I’ve
got the tools to make it happen.
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