By Desley Cowley
Looking for a fun family activity with a purpose? Why not try this.
We all know what it’s like to try to remember what happened at a family gathering. Whether it was last week, last year or a decade or more ago, you can ask every person there to remember it and they’ll all have a different version of events!
While you have the family and friends together this holiday season, why not put it to the test?
This activity will test your memories and is almost guaranteed to end in laughter.
Here’s what to do:
First pick a photo that evokes fond memories for you and others. A past family event perhaps?
Print a page each for everyone in the group to write down the memories the photo brings to mind for them.
Even for members who may not have been in attendance. Ask them to jot down their thoughts onlistening to you all talk about it.
Check out this example of mine of a childhood photo of mine and dot pointed recollections of that day.
We’ve posted this in our family FB group and you can see the commentary/discussion on there.
The photo would stir up other memories for my two siblings. One of them might even remember the name of the other boy in the pic!
Many of my recollections are not in shot, but the photo evokes those recollections and that’s the whole idea.
Ensure you have your family members write down what comes to mind for them on their piece of paper. A blank sample is also included for you to download and use as many times as you like.
When they’ve all gone home, and once you’ve recovered from the fun and laughter of the activity, you can write the stories down and save them for future generations. I like using Canva for creating family albums. You can save as a PDF, print at home, order online through Canva or your favourite local printer.
It’s not until it’s too late and people who are the keepers of this knowledge have passed that we realise how important it is.
At this time of year is also a good time to review your will, advance care plan and generally your wishes. It doesn’t have to be a sinister occasion. Sharing your wishes brings a sense of relief and peace of mind that is hard to describe until you’ve done it. You can review every 12 months or as your circumstances change.
Find out moren about how to complete an advance care plan by visiting the Queensland Government My Care My Choices website page. You’ll find easy to follow steps to help an d move through the process.
For free small group presentations on Advace Care Planning please contact:
Desley Cowley
Phone: 0419 817 973
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Facebook group: End of Life Support Regional Queensland
Get your FREE copy of my 52 page ‘Leave a Legacy for Loved Ones’ workbook (absolutely noobligation – yours to use as you wish)
For one on one conversations please contact:
Sandy Paton
Phone: 4939 4504
Sandypaton@bigpond.com
The Capricorn Community Development Association (CCDA) produces and regularly updates a CQ Compassionate Communities Directory which includes a range of resources, services, information and community support that may assist and connect, those in palliative care and their supporters, and experiencing or forward planning their own end of life journey.
You can grab a copy of the directory here.
Note from the Editor – Desley has generously gifted a free download of her workbook “Memories – One Photo at a Time” you can access your copy here! What a great activity for an upcoming family gathering!
Thank you to Desley for the important work that you are doing in the space and for the reminder of how important it is to document these memories for future generations.