The Importance of Story-telling (and Story-listening)

memoryKPR

2 min read

When I first started listening to my Amma’s (grandma in Icelandic) stories, it started out as a project for work. I was asked to create an example memoryKPR to be used for customer demos and investor pitches. I knew my Amma would be the perfect example because she 1) has the best stories and 2) loves to tell them (especially to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren).

After talking with my grandma for almost 8 hours, I had learned so much about her. She told me how her and my great grandpa met, the ways in which times have changed since she was young, and she even spoke some Icelandic which I had never heard from her before.

Because of memoryKPR, I was able to not only listen to these wonderful stories, but I was able to gather over 10 minutes of audio recordings and over 20 minutes of videos of my Amma speaking. Hearing these stories straight from her is a memory I will cherish forever. I gathered these recordings and videos almost a year ago, but it seems like just yesterday because I have listened to and watched them so much. This has been a tremendous blessing, especially because I have not been able to see her often due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stories are such an important part of preserving history. My grandmother has her 90th birthday coming up, and I know so much has changed since she was my age. She has lived a wonderful life, and she has so much wisdom to offer and share. Not only is it important for her to tell these stories, but it is important for me to listen and learn. memoryKPR gave me one of the best gifts of all – my Amma’s story.