Akron Life March 2022

FOREVER YOUNG

adding it could also be mean ingful for terminally ill people. “I think it would be a therapeu tic way for them to feel like they are going to be remembered,” she says. “I have several friends who have gone through cancer. Some of them have very young kids. And if they were to pass on, this is a way to remember their voice and their laughter.” MAKE IT MEMORABLE Whoever wants to record their story can, and Forward has some tips for making the most of the experience.

CAPTURE IT Participants’ families have been grateful for the audio albums, which serve as a kind of heir loom filled with family history. “They have this time capsule of their parents’ life, and some of these stories they’ve never heard before,” Forward says. “It sounds so much more meaning ful when it is recorded like that, and they are being really honest.” And it isn’t just the participants’ family members who are grate ful. Forward says the process often makes people feel valued. “I think it makes them feel loved and appreciated, like, Somebody actually cares about my stories,” she says, “I know that they will be passed on, and I won’t be forgotten.” But the opportunity isn’t limited to older adults, Forward says,

mends looking through old photo albums and thinking back to the impactful moments to jog their memories further. These could be great stories to bring up during the recording sessions. No matter what stories they decide to tell, honesty and authenticity can make the experience truly meaningful for generations to come.

“It can be a platform for them to get out things that they wouldn’t say at the dinner table together or during a holiday,” Forward says. “We have so much going on every day that we don’t really sit down and express how we feel or how much we mean to each other.”

Participants should start by taking a look at the sample

questions she sends them. They should sit with the questions for a while, take some notes and consider what main points they’d like to discuss. Forward recom

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