On Loss, Impermanence and Personal History

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here and while I have been very busy with work and new clients, I have felt a missing of my creativity and inspiration. It occurred to me over the weekend that the source of my ennui was the recent deaths of 4 people I knew within the time-span of two weeks. These were not old people, peers of my parents, who were battling long illnesses and the gentle creep of old age, but my own peers, (give or take a decade) that left suddenly, with little knowledge or planning.

In the 8 years that I have worked as a personal historian doing video biographies, I have lost many clients. It is my job to help families prepare for this inevitable end-of-the-road by assisting them in telling their stories so that who they are and what they have done will live on to educate future generations. Their eventually dying goes with the territory. Sometimes we’ve worked with families where a young member has died unexpectedly and I am filled with relief that their family members have film and story to remember them by.

Through the process of reminiscence, reviewing and organizing of old photos and memorabilia, deciding what stories will make it and what will get cut on the edit-room floor, I have experienced many people getting “right” with their lives.

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