Being The Memory-Keeper Of My Family

I don’t know about you, but I have a terrible memory.

I joke that that’s why I married Derrick – because he has an excellent memory. He remembers specifics of situations that I’ve long forgotten about. He can tell you dates, times, locations, what he was wearing – the whole nine yards.
And I’m lucky if I can tell you what I had for breakfast this morning.

I’m not sure why I have a horrible memory. Derrick calls it “the Eichelberger brain” (because he knows my family well enough to know that I don’t come from a long line of “strong-remember-ers”).
I like to blame it on the fact that I have SO MANY THINGS constantly scrolling through my head that I simply don’t have room to remember silly little details (like, what I had for breakfast). After all, I’m a wife, a mother, a homeschooler, a house-keeper (the chef, the maid, the chauffeur, the launderer), a photographer, a social media manager, a videographer, and the list goes on and on.

I know I have a terrible memory.

Which is probably why I’m so obsessed with gathering photos and videos – tangible memories – of my life.

I’m the MEMORY-KEEPER of my family.
(Which, is quite a hilarious title, considering that I just laid out the fact that I can’t remember anything.)

Being the MEMORY-KEEPER of my family doesn’t mean I have to remember everything though.
It simply means I get to snatch the moment, pin it down, label it, place it in it’s proper place, and then I can move on.
And when I want to come back and revisit it, the memories are right there, where I left them. And as soon as I open that photo album or watch that family film, all of those memories come bubbling back to the surface.

For a long time I felt burdened under this title of “MEMORY-KEEPER”.
Yes, I was good at taking photos (I am a professional photographer after all).
I was meh, so-so at taking videos (I’ve gotten so much better).
But I had zero purpose to me doing those things.
I had no plan, no organization, no intention on what I was actually going to DO with those photos and videos – the memories I was keeping.

And so I felt weighed down. Like a boulder was sitting on my back. I knew I should be gathering memories, so I was! But without a purpose behind that gathering process – I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, just tossing my memories off into the void. After all, they were getting stored on a hard drive, but was I ever going to have the time, the patience, the gumption to sit down and sort through those files one, five, ten years from now?

Which brought me to my tipping point.
I needed a purpose – a direction – a target – a plan.

And what that plan looks like for me, will probably look different for you.
And that’s completely fine.

The toughest part is sitting down and solidifying that plan and then having the dedication to stick to it.

For me? This is what my plan looks like:
– I create one extra-large family yearbook every year. It’s a 12×12 hard-cover album that I design from all of my favorite photos (both cell phone snaps and photos taken with my “big” camera). I’ve done it for three years now, so I have my system pretty well ironed out. It takes me about a month of working 2-3 evenings a week to complete it. When it’s printed, it is one central place for all of my photos to live.
– I create one 10-ish minute long film for our family every month (I call them “The Abbey Archives”). These films are separate from our vacation vlogs – which I create after we get home from roller coaster riding trips. The Abbey Archives are simply daily life videos – they aren’t anything super glamorous, but they’re simply a compilation of little recordings of our daily life. I have 18-months worth of these films now and I can put them together in just one evening (about 2-3 hours of time).

So, that’s my plan.
Upon “creating” it – I instantly felt that “burden” of being the MEMORY-KEEPER roll away.
And suddenly, being the MEMORY-KEEPER of my family took on a whole new, joyful meaning.
I had an intention. I had a strategy. And I had plan.

My question to you is: do you feel that strong urge to be the MEMORY-KEEPER of your family?
Are you doing anything about it? Or are you simply burying those feelings – putting them off for another day?

If so, I challenge you: don’t wait. No one is getting younger. The days fly by faster than ever. Don’t just assume that you’ll figure it out eventually. Brainstorm out a system that will work for YOU and then go for it! Enjoy the process! And know that in the end, you did your job well.