This has made me cry - again - I think because telling our stories takes vulnerability and is therefore very personal as it is creating “human-ness” together. This modern world is so lacking in that real human connection. Telling their stories on social media although getting "likes" or "followers" sounds successful they do not get any personal human contact and therefore there is little or only temporary feelings of connection and they are left still lonely. Also, in order to “Hear” someone else’s story you need to allow yourself to feel their life and we are perhaps afraid to be open to that because it might lead to emotions we may not want to feel due to needing to or not wanting to tell our own stories. My life needs a “book” written as I am often told but the time has not been made yet. Hence the tears….
This brought up so many memories for me... In my case, it's me who left my home country and have lived abroad all my adult life. I did grow up listening to my grandparents' stories, though, and remember thinking that I must find time to ask them those stories again so I could properly record them. I never did. My parents remember some, but not a lot. Those stories are now mostly lost. It saddens me. And now my daughter is growing up away from her grandparents and I wonder what stories will she grow up with and remember.
Thank you for this and for the amazing job you are doing helping others share and preserve their stories.
This is such an important writing Monica, story telling and recollections of the past unite and reunite people. With all the information possible at the tips of our finger tips, finding lost friends and family is easier than ever, but only if we give the right information…. Only if we tell the stories! Thank you so much for the reminder!
Thanks for sharing this. My ancestors also came from Germany to the US to escape the war. Perhaps if our grandparents had stayed, we could have been neighbors. The stories and pictures of those times are minimal. There was the language barrier, but it was also such a shame-based culture where people worked hard and kept to themselves. For those of us who grew up under that, it takes a lot of courage to share our stories. I’m glad you’ve had opportunities to help break through all of that and I’m working on ways to do the same.
Lovely post. This has prompted me. My son gave me a gift when my granddaughter was about a year old; a notebook configured to elicit the story of ‘me’, something for Olivia to read when she is older and I am no longer around. I think the idea of not being around has constrained me from writing the entries but I need to provide the memories. Thank you for the nudge. The stories will be told.
This has made me cry - again - I think because telling our stories takes vulnerability and is therefore very personal as it is creating “human-ness” together. This modern world is so lacking in that real human connection. Telling their stories on social media although getting "likes" or "followers" sounds successful they do not get any personal human contact and therefore there is little or only temporary feelings of connection and they are left still lonely. Also, in order to “Hear” someone else’s story you need to allow yourself to feel their life and we are perhaps afraid to be open to that because it might lead to emotions we may not want to feel due to needing to or not wanting to tell our own stories. My life needs a “book” written as I am often told but the time has not been made yet. Hence the tears….
This brought up so many memories for me... In my case, it's me who left my home country and have lived abroad all my adult life. I did grow up listening to my grandparents' stories, though, and remember thinking that I must find time to ask them those stories again so I could properly record them. I never did. My parents remember some, but not a lot. Those stories are now mostly lost. It saddens me. And now my daughter is growing up away from her grandparents and I wonder what stories will she grow up with and remember.
Thank you for this and for the amazing job you are doing helping others share and preserve their stories.
This is such an important writing Monica, story telling and recollections of the past unite and reunite people. With all the information possible at the tips of our finger tips, finding lost friends and family is easier than ever, but only if we give the right information…. Only if we tell the stories! Thank you so much for the reminder!
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this. My ancestors also came from Germany to the US to escape the war. Perhaps if our grandparents had stayed, we could have been neighbors. The stories and pictures of those times are minimal. There was the language barrier, but it was also such a shame-based culture where people worked hard and kept to themselves. For those of us who grew up under that, it takes a lot of courage to share our stories. I’m glad you’ve had opportunities to help break through all of that and I’m working on ways to do the same.
Lovely post. This has prompted me. My son gave me a gift when my granddaughter was about a year old; a notebook configured to elicit the story of ‘me’, something for Olivia to read when she is older and I am no longer around. I think the idea of not being around has constrained me from writing the entries but I need to provide the memories. Thank you for the nudge. The stories will be told.