I don’t know if anyone is interested in this, but a comment Vickie made about the service for her husband reminded me of it.
My brother retired from the Air Force, and died shortly thereafter. My Mom and Dad had passed, and I wanted to do something to remember all of them. There is a program ‘Photodex’ that I bought, and began assembling photos throughout the early years of our family, down through to all the times until they passed. I then assembled all the songs that meant something, a blurb beginning ‘With Love and Thanks to Mom, Dad and Ken, and in memory of our childhood in …..”, then with music beginning ‘The Heart Will Go On”, the photos of Mom and Dad in the early years, then through our childhood, throughout the weddings of all the children, special events, and through the passing of Mom and Dad and Ken. To tell the story, it was extremely important, to match the photos. Gave a copy to all of our family, and they loved it.
I did the same for my DH, finding music in his language from old tapes he loved, music downloaded from UTUBE, etc. I included so many photos of him, and being the sort of organized person he was, had all the documentation to back up his story. From early years, photos of his family, his special uncle and aunt, through to his years and the friends he had in the Home, coming to our country, marriage, trips, etc.; the reunion of old friends from the ‘Home’ 60 years later, etc. I think you understand what I’m saying. Whenever it was in Canada, the music was English; when the location was his homeland, that music was used.
It’s long … close to 3 hours, but he has loved this DVD. It reminds him, like a trigger, of people and events, and it is positive, letting him know that he mattered, that his life was a success, and his family would have been proud of him.
Just thought you might think it was worth doing for your LO. Margaret
I started collecting photos from the earliest years, right through to 2009, when DH was in better health.
Then, collecting all the songs that had meaning – for instance, showing photos of my parents and brother, and the song: “The Heart Will Go On”, Mom with 3 or 4 of us, and songs like “Fiddler on the Roof”; on to a few years later, Barbra Streisand “The Way We Were”, then Harry Belafonte singing “Try To Remember” – to ‘Moments to Remember”, to “Dear Old Daddy of Mine” and “Daddy’s Hands”, and “Coat of Many Colours” remembering Mom, Charlie Pride “In the Middle of Nowhere”, showing the gravestones of my parents, our old home, etc.
It did take a lot of organizing, and probably our story is modest, but it is a pleasure to view it again, and see the people who were such an important part of your life.
Similarly, in the case of my husband, collecting photos from nephews (a treasure trove of old photos not known about), and some my DH had; then going through all the music he loved, our time together, the friends he lost, but on an up note, Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Beautiful World” with great memories.
It takes time to learn the Proshow program, KY caregiver, but I am a slow learner, and Proshow was very helpful; also you can put motion into the photos. It might be difficult for you to begin it right now, as it was (for me anyway) time-consuming but I have not regretted for a moment the time spent of this project.
When my DH views the show it triggers memories he says he never thinks about, but once he sees them, make him remember and he’s happy (me too).
Hopefully you can understand what I’ve tried to explain. If you begin this project, hopefully you will be as happy as we were with the result, and not regret the work involved.