AN OPEN LETTER TO AN INTERVIEWEE

This recording is at once all about you and not about you at all.

This is all about you, but not in the way you might think.   It is about you – the precious you, the imperfect you that people love, the you that you take for granted, the you that you cannot hear or see or when you do, you may not always like it.

These recordings take preparation and time to record.  They may take hours.

But here is where it is not about you.  It is for the people who love you and find your imperfections precious.  It is for the people you know who will remain after you are gone.  It is for the people who do not yet exist who will be glad to see you, to hear you, to know a bit about you.

What would you give to have recordings of your parents as children?  In their 20s?  In their 50s?  How about your your great, great grandparents? To hear their voices, what was happening and important at the time; to see their faces and smiles and frowns; to see the pictures they took, the pictures someone took of them; to see where they lived and what their home was like; to know more about their toys, the necklace, the chair, the recipes, and all the things that each have their own story.

Please do not underestimate the value of your voice, your words, your experiences, and your life; and the things you’ve inherited, built, bought, and been given.  You and your things have so many stories, and you might well be a poor judge of what is insignificant.  What might mean little to you might mean everything to someone else.  Simply…recording yourself…will be enough.

This surely might well be a one-time deal.  A few hours out of all the hours of your entire life.  You can do it.  You should do it.  Pull yourself and your things together and just…talk.  So many people will be grateful that you did.