honoring a life ~ StoryCorps' Memory Loss Initiative

After setting up their first StoryBooth in NYC's Grand Central Station, David Isay & the other folks at StoryCorps quickly discovered while it's goal was to collect stories from all ages, time & again it was the elderly who were coming by to record their memories, sometimes under their own steam, often brought by family, friends or a caregiver.  

It became clear that the longing to share & record memories of early lives - first loves & first jobs, hard times & joyful, sad & funny & everything in between - went beyond preservation & touched on something deeper.  Many of the older people, many of the youngers who cared for them, yearned to REMEMBER before they forgot.  StoryCorps provides that priceless opportunity.

Responding to this AH HA! realization, in 2006 StoryCorps introduced the Memory Loss Initiative, focusing on recording & preserving stories from people experiencing forms of encroaching memory loss.  David Isay brought Dina Zempsky, who specializes in working with the aging & elderly, on board.  mon board.

What Dina found was that people changed during the 40-minute interviews, transformed by looking back on their life, seeing it as separate & personal, yet part of a greater whole.  They were grateful to know that while they might lose their memories, those recorded memories would never be lost.  

What Dina doesn't mention, but which I know from personal experience to be true, is that recording memories - which begins with recognizing there are memories worth recording, often a stunning revelation for most of us - is usually just the beginning.  Once the sharing begins, it normally continues, with long ago moments shared far away from a recording booth, mother to child, grandparent to beloved younger, friend to friend.  Even just remembered in their heart, in the quiet of a room.

 

Once the sharing starts, it doesn't just stop.

My mother's psychologist was blown away by Mom's Mindwalker1910 e-mails. I will never forget the look on Kevyn's face as she marveled - "Kay, in sharing those memories, you are honoring your life.  There are few things you can do that is as healthy at that."  

Smiling, thinking about the people who read about StoryCorps, who listen to the stories, then start doing some of their own delving into a parent's or grandparent's or friend's stories.  

Mitra Bonshahi, the Memory Loss Initiative's outreach coordinator, notes that they are capturing voices that otherwise wouldn't be heard, would be lost.  And that our aging population is especially at risk of being dismissed, ignored.  

 

We can use StoryCorps app - and others, like GreyMatters - to share & record our loved ones' stories, to help them honor their life.  Even if those precious memories are never archived in the Library of Congress, they'll be caught & captured in our hearts.