Part of his therapy

As long as you live, it is not too late to start recording your own personal history. My husband started a journal three years ago. Each night before he went to bed he would write at least a page. Last December, he had open heart surgery. A few days later, he had a massive stroke. Each night during his hospitalization, I wrote his entries for him. He was in the hospital seven weeks. When he came home, he had to learn to talk and write all over again. As part of the therapy, he was told to start writing in his journal again. Each morning, he writes. This is a documentation of a trial in his life, of his struggles and improvement. — Margaret Brough, Kaysville, Utah

Journal on computer

I decided to record my journal on the computer, recording all of the things I remembered about my family. I love to update my journal and though there are pages and pages of it, I have managed to complete my life story and love to read through it, to travel down memory lane. The beauty of doing it on a computer is that you can always go back and put in a piece that had been previously forgotten without spoiling anything.

It's amazing how much you can remember when you start. One story leads to another. Stored on computer disk, this doesn't take up much space and can always be added to. — Pamela Lyndoe, York, England

Story in song

My mother is a native of Ha'alaufuli, Vava'u, Tonga. The eldest in her family, she was once a wonderful storyteller of personal history. She has had multiple strokes, lives with Alzheimer's and suffers memory loss. A few years ago, I was inspired to compose a song retelling her childhood memories about one of her grandmothers, Katalaine Tufutele from Fiji. I don't play the guitar very well, but it only takes a few chords to create a story in song. Sharing personal history musically has brought so much joy and blessings into our lives and home. Even though Mom is slowly slipping away, I'll always have a story to tell and a song to sing. — Lezlie Tuione Vehikite, Alameda, Calif.

Letter history

Years ago, when we lived away from our aging parents, we watched the Church video, "The Mailbox." My wife, Carma, was so touched that she said she would write both our parents every week until they passed away. She has lived up to that commitment now for about 20 years. She told them of the things we and our kids did, where we went, fun things we did, Church callings, school happenings, special events, feelings and happy times. She asked her mother to save all our letters, and we picked them up when we visited. We then put them in order in a notebook with the plastic covers to make our journal almost a living, signed and dated running history of the family.

After a few years we got a computer so the letters were written on it and were then saved and put on disks that also give us our family journal. We can copy the disks and give them to our kids also. We really enjoy reading back through almost a thousand letters about our lives and almost relive the times again. — George Bingham, Lacey, Wash.

Writing personal stories

Keeping a personal history shouldn't be burdensome nor dull. It should be as unique as you are. Several methods I have found to be successful include the following:

• Writing certain events into stories. For me, some of these have turned out so well that I have published them in national magazines. Never assume your life is uninteresting.

• Making lists. Keeping a notebook of lists, such as favorite books, my heroes, things I got for Christmas, things I wish I'd gotten for Christmas, places I've traveled, things I collect, really tell the reader a lot about you.

• Scrapbooking. Lots of supplies are available to make them as simple or creative as suits you best. Photo journals are fun to read, too.

• Keeping detailed calendars, then preserving them as a record. Most of us use some kind of calendar to organize our lives' activities. This is actually a type of diary.

• Crafting. Many hobbies and crafts can be directed into a personal portrait of yourself. Choose to create something using your unique talents that can be kept as part of your personal portfolio. I paint portraits of children.

— Linda G. Paulsen, Rock Springs, Wyo.