I already have Your Life in a Nutshell for myself. I’ve had all this extra time on my hands, and looking at the questions got me thinking about my own past and all the things I remember about my grandparents and all the houses I grew up in.
It reminded me how important my own childhood was – and now I’m about to have our first baby – a little boy – it’s made me more determined to make sure HIS childhood is special, and that I remember every little moment of it as he starts to become a real little person.
So the plan is to have somewhere to put all those inevitable videos and pictures that happen around a new baby. My parents are pretending they’re not bothered about becoming grandparents, and they’re always saying they’re not going to become unpaid babysitters – but I know they’re actually really chuffed and my sister has told me Mum’s been secretly knitting all sorts of tiny things!!
So it’s going to be lovely to keep a record of those first steps and first words and first smiles and the names he gives his toys and whether he loves the cat and also all the important stuff, like his weight and health and all the official stuff that might otherwise get lost in the jumble of the rest of our lives.
Then when he’s old enough to take over his own membership it’ll be a brilliant, ongoing archive about his life. I wish I had something similar – when I was doing my own Nutshell, there were so many things I was reminded of that I’d previously forgotten; how much nicer and easier to have living record already there for me, with pictures and video and sound, I can’t wait to get started. (His first picture is already up there – the ultrasound scan image!)
It's easy to think you'll live forever when you're young.
But now we have a growing family, we realise it's vital to put our affairs in order; if one of us is taken ill, the other will know where everything is and what to do.
But my grandchildren have been interviewing me on their phones and on video, and now they've recorded my memories in a Nutshell - I can't wait to see it.
Lots of things are hard to talk about - at any age.
But now we've recorded our last wishes we can get on with enjoying retirement together, knowing that those left behind will have greater peace of mind.
