Traditional family trees are nice, but they don’t really get at what a family is really like. There’s a lot more to people than names and dates. Think of your grandparents, for instance, or your parents. What kind of people were they? What were their strengths? Their passions? What were their challenges? What kind of marriage did they have? Was it loving and close, formal, conflicted? What made your grandmother laugh? What made her cry? What were your parents\’ and grandparents\’ days like? What kind of parents were they? How did they show anger? How did they show love?

You probably got an up-close and personal look at your parents\’ relationship and possibly your grandparents\’ relationship as well. If asked to describe them in a few words or sentences, you could probably do it. In doing so, it might even bring a smile to your face or a hint of recognition. These are the kinds of memories that you want to preserve, as well as the stories that you always heard about these people. You are an expert on your family, whether you realize it or not.

It’s heartbreaking when our parents and grandparents-who had rich, vibrant lives-have for the most part been forgotten. Their lives had value, though all that’s left behind is a few photographs. They deserve to be remembered. Yet most of us are at a loss as to how to honor the lives of those who have gone on before us. There aren’t very many families that leave behind diaries, letters, documents or stories that reveal who they were. In all honestly, most of us stay too busy to think in terms of leaving a lasting legacy. Yet we are our parents\’ and our grandparents\’ legacy. A part of them is inside of each of us in invisible ways every day of our lives. But still, most of us want to do more. We want to let our elder family members know that they mattered and that they will be remembered.

It is important for us to leave information behind, perhaps in the form of an enhanced family tree, so that your great-granddaughter or great grand-niece, or someone else in your family, isn’t carrying around a photograph of you or your parents a hundred years from now, yearning to know who you were, but finding no answers. Every family needs historians and storytellers. Those people who go in search of a good mystery and who want to document their findings. Every family needs someone who doesn’t just want to know what time it is, they want to know what makes the clock tick. They are curious about inner workings. They are curious about what makes their families work and they want to learn from that and also be able to pass down this information as part of their legacy.

Tristine Rainer, author of a book called, Your Life as Story, says, “As a bird must sing, it’s your human nature to tell your story.” It is also your human nature to want to know where you come from and who your family is. We all want to have a sense of where we belong. You need to discover new ways to write a family tree that is more than names and dates. You can do this by creating an in-depth family tree that captures the essence and the stories of your family and what they have meant to you.

Author Bio: Susan Gabriel, M.Ed, created the Family Time Capsule, a unique multimedia program which provides your parents & other honored elder family members, as well as the family historians and storytellers in your family, a comprehensive & easy way to build their legacy. Visit Your Family Time Capsule

Category: Family Concerns
Keywords: family tree, legacy, family history, grandparents