Video Biography: 'I'd like Mom to go first!'

Last week, I had the opportunity of traveling up to Georgetown, TX for an interview. For people who know just how far (or really, how close) Georgetown is to Austin, this might seem like nothing momentous but to me it was. Because well, every interview is momentous. Plus I like checking off names from maps knowing that that's one less place I've left unexplored. So sorry, there's no bursting my bubble!

I had been commissioned by a gentleman who wished to have both his parents interviewed for their individual, customized video biographies.

"I would like for you to begin with my mother please," he said. "She's come second in a lot of things that have happened in our lives and for once, I want her to come first."

I was touched. No doubt so was she.

When I met her, I found her to be a charming, thoughtful lady... and when she spoke on camera about her family, there reflected pride and love on her face. It wasn't always easy for her to talk about her own life or memories from her childhood (in her own words, she was beginning to find it hard to remember details), but when it was time to talk about the family she had raised with her husband, her face lit up and some very interesting stories came tumbling out.

Were some of these stories ones that no one had ever heard before? A few were, I'm sure of that. But what's more important is that ALL of these stories will become ones that no one ever forgets anymore... not even when the 'details' slip from her own mind. Because they're in a safe place now. In her own voice.

In that precious moment when she came first.



Aditi