Preserving our History

I have enjoyed reading Judy's, Mom's, and Alanna's Christmas recollections, and I was reminded of the Christmas ham story which I shared. Thinking about those posts prompts me to consider the opportunity that this blog presents to us.

As you undoubtedly know due to my frequent shameless promotion, I have started two web-blogs, one for my business and one for my photographic hobby. In the latter, I share thoughts about my creative process. In this manner, I can memorialize things about myself of which my children might not be aware; and while at this point in their lives they are not that interested in their father's emotional life and personal pursuits, my kids may, as they become older, want to know more about the man who was their father.

For years I would express my inner self in poems and stories and letters and in email correspondence, many of which writings I have lost. It occurs to me that had I retained those items, I would give my children, and their children, and so on, a key to unlock the door of this one aspect of their personal history.

I think that this Gatesman Family blog presents an opportunity for each of us to memorialize our memories, and thereby give each other a glimpse of our own personal emotional life. This is a great opportunity and I am grateful to Judy for proposing the blog.

With that in mind, and knowing that the world wide web is a transient place, I have on my to-do list the task of printing out some of my written materials so that they, like the other writings I have done in the past, are not lost.

I look forward to seeing what people have to contribute to the Gatesman Family web-blog.

- Billy