You all know that in 2018, my father moved to a senior’s residence, and I helped him go through his home in preparation for the sale of the house that was my parent’s home for over 25 years.
There were so many days spent going through the house, and during all those days, there were several things that my dad and I found that were absolute treasures. We found my mom’s wedding dress that she’d saved all wrapped in tissue in a box.
We found boxes and boxes of photos that I’ve scanned, and those have been uploaded to FOREVER.
I also found a tape that was of my grandparents (my dad’s parents) singing that was also uploaded to FOREVER.
When I was looking for that tape, I’d come across some other tapes, and I kept them not knowing if they were the one I was looking for. You see, my dad knew there was a tape of his parents singing, but until we found it all clearly marked by my mom, we weren’t sure what we were looking for.
Recently I had a small box that I was going to send to FOREVER to digitizing. There were a couple of VHS tapes and one cassette tape. The cassette was one we’d found when looking for the tape of my grandparents singing. It had nothing written on the outside, so I had no clue what was on it, and I didn’t have a tape machine to listen to it. Besides, I didn’t know how old the tape was, so I didn’t want to risk listening and having it break.
Last week I was notified by FOREVER that my items had been uploaded to my account, so I thought I’d check them out. Imagine my surprise when I listened to the audiotape. It was a tape that my mom had created from message machine recordings of my niece and nephew singing to my parents for their birthdays. But not just from one-year but for several years. There is even a year that I sang on it.
As I listened, I got emotional. Not just because of the sweet voices, but it was because it was the first time I was able to listen to my mom’s voice since she died in 2015.
I love the things that I’m able to preserve at FOREVER. I have all my photos, including photos of my mom’s handwritten recipes. I can listen to my grandparents sing any time I’d like, and now I can listen to my mom’s voice and not just now, but my family will be able to listen for over 100 years to come.
You can have this experience too. Christmas is coming, so take your smartphone and record the voices. Record your grandparents, record your cousins, record your children, record your parents. Record the voices. You might not think it’s a big deal now but give it 10 or 20 years.. believe me it will be a big deal.
P.S. I’m a FOREVER Ambassador, but I became one because I believe in this product. I was a skeptic, but I investigated what FOREVER promises, and I became convinced that what they promised they will be able to deliver for now and in the future. Be sure to check out my YouTube video; I’m Saving My Geneology FOREVER and My FOREVER share album.
Thank you! This post is incredibly timely. We are preparing to move my grandparents to assisted living from the home they built in 1965! My father was five when they moved in. My grandparents raised four children in that home and hosted MANY birthday, Christmas and other celebrations for their children, 12 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. They were married 70 years this past May.
I know sorting through the house can be a huge endeavor but be on the lookout for all the photo, audio and video treasures. Set them aside in a box until you have time to look at them more closely.
We found a picture of my grandfather from WWI in a closet on top of a box of pictures. I can only assume that my parents took them when they cleaned out my grandparents stuff and just stuck it in the closet. I had NEVER seen the picture before. A true treasure!