| > Practice writing down notes on a piece of paper in the dark
> Thank yourself later, in years to come I only found out about this many decades after it happened, but on the occasion of my grandfather's 60th birthday, way back in 1980-ish, my mother presented with him a large bound empty notebook labelled with his name, and explained that the purpose of the gift was that he was to start making notes about his life. It sounds incredible, but he started writing. All kinds of (what must have seemed) completely inconsequential stuff, what he remembered about the home he grew up in, the schools he went to, the friends he'd had, the whole nine yards. He died not that many years later. Note to everyone who's read this far: grab the chance to do this - either as the one writing, or the one who gifts the notebook! - while you have the chance. "Tempus fugit" and all that. |
I’ve given notebooks to my mom to encourage her to write, but don’t think I ever wrote her name on the cover. The next one will have it.
Also, consider recording a conversation between you and your loved one with the voice recorder on your phone. I have one brief recording of my dad’s voice in an old VHS tape that I burned to DVD and copied to the computer, and that’s it.
Memories.
Often the most powerful objects in films, to me, are photographs. Like the polaroids in Thelma and Louise and both Blade Runners.
Also old school VHS footage, like in Bassackwards by Kurt Vile — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOFWHty4XFQ — and What About That Day by Jenny O. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxCBnKu5jyk