Want to live forever? You have the secret at your fingertips! Leave your LEGACY IN WORDS for the future. The mission of the LIVING LEGACY PROJECT is to help you do it -- simply and easily.


Consider this harsh reality check. After two-and-a-half generations, most of us will be gone and forgotten
-- forever.  Brutal but true. How can this happen, you say? Because only YOU can tell your story! How you lived and coped with life will never be known UNLESS YOU START NOW AND TELL YOUR LIFE'S STORIES. Write it down for future generations. Your LEGACY IN WORDS preserves you for all time!

All you need is a small amount of time set aside each month to gain immortality!

We can use the inexpensive technology we now have at our fingertips and record our family’s life stories online.  It's so easy! A digital recorder, small digital camcorder, and computer with Internet access will get you started--saving stories, voices, and photos at the Living Legacy Project. This is an online family-and-friends-oriented social networking site with built-in accountability. Its certified legacy advocates, all members of the International Association of Storykeepers, will ensure your success.
Why do we need a Living Legacy Project? Because one very good thing about "the good ol' days" was the written word. Letters of correspondence were penned and often cherished by recipients. These letters recorded the everyday occurrences in the lives of the writers -- at home, work, the battlefield, travel, etc. They were usually stored in boxes or tied together with a string or ribbon for safekeeping and future reminiscing. When found by families and historians generations later, they offer a keyhole glimpse into the lives and era they depict -- a contemporaneously written living legacy.

Leap to the future -- the 20th and 21st centuries. Here's our dilemma. We have a lot of technology to help us communicate and share information at warp speed:  telephones, cell phones, text messages, the Internet, e-mail, and communication wizardry. But little of that will survive into the future. The majority of our personal communication is neither printed nor saved! And even if it were, we do not know how long the toner or ink of today’s technology will last printed on paper processed in our time and made with or without acidity.

Yet, we can access and read court records from the 1600s. They were handwritten with a quill pen dipped into ink and scrawled onto pages in heavy ledger books (although reading some handwriting might present a challenge). In contrast, today’s court clerks are so busy and strapped for time, storage space, and budgets that they refuse to accept depositions for filing. In the past, these provided further insight into matters at the bar and fodder for genealogists.

Modern technology has greatly changed the way we communicate in our world -- on both the business and personal level, and we don't expect much of it to be available for reference in the future. Let's face it, we rarely write letters anymore or keep diaries or journals. It's much faster to email. And so we do. E-mails are sent, read, and DELETED.

Hence, the problem. Where will our history be found in the future? On an obsolete computer with an operating system no one can remember? Early computer users as well as our government have already found themselves in that predicament.

For generations yet to come, there will be no writings or records for them to peer into to see what we thought about the times in which we lived or what our daily lives were like unless we leave something in writing. That's what is meant by a LEGACY IN WORDS. That is the goal and sole purpose of the LIVING LEGACY PROJECT

Let's get going! We cannot afford to procrastinate. We are losing most of the history of the 20th century now with the daily passing of our World War II veterans and next, the Korean War veterans, and then the Vietnam era veterans. How did our mothers and grandmothers deal with life during the absence of their husbands? How did they handle the news that their husband or son had been captured, killed, or was missing in action? How did it affect their lives and their children’s lives? There are so many questions we need to ask, and it's up to us to accept this challenge and record the stories of our time.

Of course, the rich and famous have their stories told and their genealogies traced for free. But the average person, who works to keep food on the table, clothes on the backs of his or her children, and goes to war, these are the voices that have been silenced because of our modern lifestyle. Yet these are the poignant stories that need to be recorded and told.

Here's an example of how letters from the past can reach into the future to touch not only descendants but affect a larger public audience as well: 

Along the Elizabeth River waterfront on the southwest corner of Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia, is the Armed Forces Memorial that features 20 letters written home by U.S. soldiers and sailors who died serving their country from the Revolutionary War up to and including the Gulf wars. The letters appear to be scattered by the wind and are forever preserved in bronze. In this way, visitors to the park may read and reflect upon the sacrifices and depredations suffered by the authors. They reflect the human condition during trying times.
So, live forever. Save a life today -- your own and that of your family. It’s your legacy to preserve. It’s our legacy to share. Pass it on!

Fishing and Genealogy

Fishing is synonymous with genealogy! I made this interesting discovery recently when chatting with my 83-year-old Mom. She had just returned from fishing near her home in Virginia Beach. We talked about how relaxing it was for her and how happy I was that she had the opportunity for a break from caring for her niece and doing something she loved. She commented, “It’s just like you and your genealogy.”

I have always compared genealogy to scavenger hunting, but my Mom's analogy was certainly interesting. The more I gave it some thought, the more I realized that a true fisherman has the desire—almost need—to go fishing whenever an opportunity presents itself. Sports fishermen love what they do and are driven by the anticipation of catching a fish and the glorious high they experience when reeling it in. With each telling of the big catch, the fisherman gets to relive the same thrill of the catch all over again.

Sound familiar?

Genealogists likewise experience the desire—almost need—to go searching for information whenever the opportunity presents. Genealogists love what they do and are driven by the anticipation of finding data and the glorious high they experience when retrieving long-lost information. With each telling or sharing of the big find, the genealogist can relive the same thrill of the search all over again.

Did you ever notice how freely genealogists and fishermen share the story of their catches with complete strangers? Those who just happen to be in the vicinity when the big catch is reeled in or the information is located get to hear all about it and share in the excitement. Fishermen congratulate each other on their catches, just the same as genealogists congratulate each other on their finds.

Fishermen endure cold, rain, and wind for the love of fishing, even if they return home empty-handed most of the time.

Genealogists endure long hours of sitting at microfilm readers or computers in libraries and repositories, even if they, too, return home empty-handed most of the time.

The biggest difference between fishermen and genealogists is that fishermen often exaggerate about the size of their catch, whereas genealogists get the facts straight and cite sources.

Being with like-minded folks who understand the euphoria when one makes a haul or finds the mother lode of genealogical gems is always pleasurable. My Mom and I may pursue different passions, but we both reap the same reward of anticipation and discovery—and just plain fun—when pursuing our hobbies.

I just can’t eat my catches!