Tuesday's Tip - Interview those greats!

(I know it has been a few weeks - all that moving stuff is finally sorted and I have gotten my own life sorted - well, as much as any of us can!) Today's tip hits close to home and serves as one of those life lessons.

My great aunt died unexpectedly last week (a car accident). She was my grandmother's only surviving sibling and lived to the age of 99 (in January 2016 she would have been 100). She was in relatively good health and had a good long happy life. In fact she had spent the day with family and friends - canning and putting up whatever her garden had produced. I spent time with her last year - visiting and taping her memories of family and her life on the farm. I had planned to visit her again in early September to follow up on our conversations and review some documents she shared with me. Sadly that is not going to happen. 

I was able to meet up with extended family and friends at the funeral and listened to stories. Happily some people shared their email addresses and offered to do a bit of searching to share what they knew about the family. But we did lose the last of that generation. The lesson is "don't put off visits and conversations with our elders."

Today's tip is to go through your Legacy family file and do a search (I have my direct lines as Tag 1 and Tag 2) looking for those family members who are over a certain age (you pick the age). Did you find anyone that you should contact to ask questions, get stories or photos from, or visit to learn more about their life and the lives of their family members?

PLEASE take the time to make that phone call, set up that visit (in person or online), write that letter, or share that family group sheet. I am glad for the time I did spend with my great aunt Christine - I do wish I had taken the time this summer to visit with her again.