"Tell me a story of when you were young"

It was seeing an old black and white photo of Marcus' grandfather Percy inspecting his beehives in England that prompted me to start this ancestor wall. Then my Mum wrote and published her book on her great grandfather Thomas Coto and his journey from China to Australia. At her book launch I found old photos and knew that I wanted to put faces to their stories.

I got copies of the photos, tracked down others, thrifted and hunted for frames and finally almost a year after I began, the wall is finished. I love it.

A week after having it up and talking the kids through who everyone was and what I knew about them, we heard the news that my great Aunty Tui had died. She was in her 90's and died peacefully in her sleep. Now my Nana Peg is the last of her family still alive. That's her and her big sister Tui when they were young. Isn't she just the cutest!

I'm really glad we have photos to remember others by.  It's why I keep this blog and go a bit crazy taking photos of everyday moments and people. Daily Lucy will ask me to tell her a story of when I was a little girl. It's hard to remember them unless something happens that triggers a memory. She is fascinated by them and I'm always trying to remember new stories she hasn't heard yet.

This blog will be printed out yearly as a keepsake and I can't wait to flick through it with my grandchildren one day, telling them the stories of their parents when they were little. Or to show Lucy when she is knee deep in preschoolers that I too, experienced her joys and trials with motherhood. I wish My Mum had a blog when she was my age. I would love to read about her days raising us. So keep taking those photos people, record those memories. You never know, one day they might be gracing someones' ancestor wall.