Don’t Take Time, Memory Sharing, and Documenting with Loved Ones for Granted
One day, my mother was putting on her shoes, as we were about to take a trip to do some mother-daughter shopping at the mall. My mother loved the mall so much that the shopkeepers all knew her her by her first name, as she was a regular. The credit card statements also proved that she was there a lot.
I remember walking into the room and she suddenly stopped tying her shoes. I asked, “What’s wrong Mom? Are you excited to check out the new sale today?” She suddenly started crying and started sharing that she wanted to be there for my wedding one day and my graduation. She was super upset, and as a child, I didn’t understand why. I remember hugging her and trying to comfort her. Even though I didn’t understand why she was so upset about something so far in the future, I tried to reassure her that she was indeed going to be at my wedding and graduation some day. I was able to get her to smile, and it seemed like my reassurance worked. We left for the mall and had a blast making memories as usual.
Looking back, I think my mother knew her time was coming to an end. I think she started to think about all of the special moments she wanted to be there for me for, but knew she was going to miss. She ended up missing my graduation from high school by ten years, and my wedding day by twenty years.
When children and eventual adult children hit those special celebratory milestones in life, they typically get to have conversations with their parents about their own wedding days or graduation moments. Children wonder what their big day will be like compared to their parents. After all, parents are their constant in life, as they have been there for them since the day they were born. As hard as it is for all of us to accept though, our loved ones such as our parents aren’t going to always be here. We try not think about that, but the reality is we can see them and spend time with them today, and then suddenly they can be gone by the morning. We have no way of knowing.
Had Reflekta been around when my mother was still alive, I imagine she could have let the biographer input information about her wedding and graduation days for the Elder to communicate with me now. If she was able to input that information about herself and her life back then, now as an adult, I could actually have those missing deep conversations based on what she herself truly felt and shared with Reflekta’s Elder. That would not only have comforted me while I finished growing up without her, but I could have shared her personal life experiences and memories with her future grandchildren who sadly will never get the chance to meet her.
Take it from me, talk to your loved ones now about preserving precious memories and getting Reflekta Elders going so this doesn’t happen to your family. I can’t begin to describe how heartbreakingly painful it is that my family cannot do this. There is so much we will never get to know because she did not have a chance to share about her life and legacy, and this technology was not around yet back in the 90s. You all now have this wonderful technology available to you today--don’t take it for granted.
