My mother once called me the historian of the family and I wasn’t sure why. Was it that I asked more questions about events and people? Was it that I displayed keen interest in the stories of my grandparents? Wherever it began, it has most definitely become true, and that’s one development I’m glad about.
The year of my parents’ 60th anniversary was upon us—2009—and my mother and father wanted to leave a legacy for their family. Mom wasn’t speaking in dollar values  when she shared their wish with us, but of stories and values they’d shared. What would it mean to us after they were gone?
 

Mom had gotten in touch with a writer she knew who was doing family stories for other folks. She engaged the woman to help them get started. The challenge became how to tell the stories. What would be included? What would be left out?
Each of my siblings and I wrote some pieces of what it had meant to us growing up in the country, of where we were at the time in terms of our immediate families and our employment. In the end what my parents shared of their stories, and what we added, is of great value.
 

The first copy was ready for their anniversary day and more produced later. Sister Kim was the layout specialist and we all agreed she did a wonderful job in arranging the photos with the text. Her layout experience with her day job and a computer program capable of handling graphics and photos was a great asset.
Nine years later, Dad has died and the family has further blossomed with more great grandchildren for Mom and another great granddaughter about to be married this summer. In between those years, I published my memoir, Once Upon a Sandbox, of growing up on a family farm in the 50s and 60s, and then last year, in memory of Dad, Harry’s Trees, my picture book was published, which is not about me, but my Dad’s passion, beyond his family (always very important to both my parents).
 

 

 
https://www.carolynwilker.ca/