Will Blogging Effect Future Generations? #BlogHerWritingLab

Are future generations going to be hit with information overload as many, many family stories come to life on Blogs?

Thursday, April 14, 2016
Are future generations going to be hit with information overload as more and more people tell their stories? Instead of a handful of family stories, people will have whole blogs to peruse.

****************************************************************************************

I don’t think it’s possible for people, for future generations to have too many family stories, too much family information, too much family history to peruse.

Most people, I think, are inherently curious about their ancestry, their woven webs of stories of people who have somehow, somewhere, some moment in Time, found each other. These moments, traveling back hundreds and hundreds of years, make the Life of each person possible.

I love stories of my family history. I love stories of both my paternal and maternal lifelines. I especially love Love Stories. The Love Stories are what create future generations. Yes?

I remember the stories my Nana told me about her parents, stories of what she knew of her grandparents, but beyond that, the oral history ends. I remember the stories my Dad told of his Mom, but he had little history of his Dad, who died when my Dad was an infant. One of my sisters-in-law did extensive study of archives many decades ago… in search of some, any, Birth, Baptism, Marriage, Death records of my ancestors – Irish, Polish, Latvian, Croatian, Yugoslavian. From scraps of paper, photocopies of church documents, ship passenger lists, passports, land deeds and service records, names and dates slowly appeared – and story-lines emerged. It was fuzzy, but it was something, something tangible about my people, their places, their lives…

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.03.59 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.04.32 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.04.54 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.06.07 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.06.23 PM

I found it all very mesmerizing.

My ancestors came to the United States from multiple European countries, forever leaving their homelands. They disembarked ships on the East Coast of the United States in mostly Boston or Baltimore and traveled somehow or other to pockets of Boston, to Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, Illinois and Michigan. Oh, to know these stories.

But there are no letters, no diaries, no tape recordings, no videos, no Facebook, no Instagram messages, no Blog Posts.

There are no pen pals, no postcards, no love letters, no hand-scrawled poems, no romance for this romantic to peruse!

There aren’t even feuds to dig into. There must have been something, somewhere, some moment in Time when something went array over land or love or loot. Yes?

But within my folders and folders of documents, there is one thing that is a treasure of my history, my life, My Story. It’s a treasure within The Story of my children, my grandchildren and someday my great grandchildren and then forever and ever more.

It is a Love Letter from my Dad, written to my Mom on May 3, 1960 from Midway…

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.06.53 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.07.57 PM

My Dad had blocked out the words DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY and
OFFICIAL BUSINESS. I love this detail of the letter, of The Story, of my Dad…

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.45.54 PM

My Dad had been stationed out-to-sea for months upon months when this letter was penned, and it tells of a great love in moments that define what future generations would know of The Story of my Mom and my Dad. It is information of deep love, wonderful intimacy and romance that begins:

My dearest most precious darling…

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.08.17 PM

And includes even the most unremarkable, yet most perfect moments of life and parenthood as my Dad writes on page 2:

Hon – maybe we can afford our station wagon this Summer after all. Pleasant thought, eh – I’m sure after all these months we could use one – still hoping for the Plymouth. Will have to shop around again – no harm in looking.

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.08.41 PM

I can hear my Dad’s voice in the music, the cadence, the romance, the poetry of his words and his love for his wife and of his children in his letter. I can feel his arms in his giant, famous hugs as he closes his 4-page letter with…

Kiss daddy’s angels and take real special care of “Mommy” till the 13th – all my love & Kisses forever and ever.
XXXXX “Bill” XXXXX

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.09.20 PM

My Dad died suddenly in August 1975 and my Mom turned 91 years old yesterday. My Mom has been a widow for nearly 41 years.

This letter is priceless to my Story.

I am a diarist on my Blog, gathering moments upon moments and celebrations upon celebrations and years upon years and decades upon decades and photographs upon photographs and blog posts upon blog posts of Family.

My Story. Our Story.

I feel a great need to do this. Maybe it’s my curiosity of wanting to know My Story. Maybe it’s my love of The Story – especially its beginnings as the beginnings happen over and over and over again.

Maybe it’s because a letter from my Dad written 56 years ago can still bring me to tears, can take me by great surprise that I, too, end every correspondence to my loved ones in the very same words of forever and ever and covered in XXXXXXXXXX’s.

It’s all because of The Story.

****************************************************************************************

Can information and/or personal moments like these ever be “overloaded”?

I don’t think so.

Blog Posts are very much like letters to the the future.

There will always be those like me who will treasure the moments that give us great glimpses into our pasts.

There will always be those who care not to dig, to know, to tell Stories. That’s OK, too.

But I will always believe that the details of us are all part of the forever and ever of our Stories, and there is simply no way there can be too much.

BlogHer Writing Lab April 2016 Prompts! Why not join in and tell your story. 

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

Sign Up To The Ultimate Style Newsletter for Moms

Categories

ShopStyle “List” Of all Things I Like and Blog About

Pinterest

1 Comments

  1. 4.20.16
    Kris said:

    If I were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, now I’d say “Kgaabunow, dude!”

Comments are closed.