Growing up in the 90s was an amazing time to be a child. We were the generation that was the first to get to know and explore the internet, we started really trending with pop culture ideas in music and technology, not to mention we had some pretty cool toys to play with and collect like Beanie Babies, Furbies, Gameboys, and Skip-its to name a few.

Although the 90s were awesome to live as a child through, computers just started being a thing as well as home video recording cameras and regular old school cameras. There were car phones back then for those who could really afford luxurious items, but cell phones weren’t really a big hit until the 2000s. Photographs were what we all primarily used to cherish and capture family memories-- pictures and old family recipes, as well as the memories we passed down from one generation to another.

The 90s were also the time when I was a child and lost my mother. She was there one second, and was a bright light and so full of love that she shared with everyone, and then suddenly she was gone--just like that. Whatever video camera recordings we had of her, photographs, voice recordings, and memories--that was it. Suddenly realizing that we wouldn’t be able to take another picture of her blowing out the candles on her next birthday cake, or hearing her voice through the answering machine, or getting a hand signed card from her ever again stung so deep that it created a new type of pain. Not only did we grieve her loss, but we were grieving the loss of future memories of and with her. Whatever we had up to that point, with the level and limits of technology and printable materials and recordings we had during that decade--that was sadly it.

Nowadays, luckily more people can quickly take a picture of someone and upload it to their computer, print out the picture, upload it to social media, record a family gathering quickly and effortlessly, and so much more with how far technology has come from the 90s to today. I am glad we are all able to do that now, but I am heartbroken I couldn’t capture more memories of and with my mother back then. I also have this huge gap to where I was never given the chance to get to truly know my mother. Her life was cut short, as well as my time with her, so I was never able to ask her questions that most kids get to ask their parents, let alone later on in life when adult children get the privilege to ask their parents those deep questions about their upbringing or other aspects of their life. I am thankful for the nine years I was able to get with my mother, but more time was needed and wanted. I am sure she felt this way towards the end as well.

And then one day recently I was researching the internet I was the very first generation of test subjects for, and I came across Reflekta. Upon discovering Reflekta and the wonderful product that was created, my first thought was bittersweet, as I remember thinking, “Why couldn’t have Reflekta been around back in the 90s when my mom was still alive?” How I could have preserved more of her memories while she was alive, to potentially take some of the sting out of her death upon the universe suddenly cutting me off from making future memories with her. I was only a child, so I wasn’t really in charge of collecting the photographs or preserving her voice recordings. Oh what I would do to hear her voice again or get a warm hug from her now.

As I have painfully had to accept for the past 32 years now, I know she is never coming back and I cannot physically ever bring her back. Yet, with Reflekta, and the little amount of memories and mementos I do still have of her, maybe, just maybe, I can preserve the little I do have, to help future generations not ever forget my mother. And by spreading the word and sharing with others about Reflekta, that maybe I can help other families preserve their precious memories of one another before that heartbreaking day comes where they will be forced to say goodbye forever, for I never want families to feel the sting of not having enough memories stored before the death of their loved one. At Reflekta, families can ensure their memories will be preserved and will continue to carry the light their loved one shared with the world onto future generations. At Reflekta, preserving those precious memories can help prevent loved ones from ever being forgotten.

I think this is the start of something truly beautiful…