It’s only too late to make memories when it’s too late. ~ Andra Watkins
Do you save voicemail?
My cellular provider is maddening. They don’t provide much room to save as many as I’d like. I resorted to saving special messages as audio files on my iPhone. We lose people a little every day. I don’t want to forget what people sound like.
When they’re gone, it will be too late to collect sound.
Take my Aunt Lillian. She’s almost ninety. I’m still her Baby Andra. I treasure every message from her, because each call may be her last. Oh, she’s still going strong, but we all have an end date.
Listen to one of my favorites.
Dad calls me almost every day. My voice memos are stacking up. This recent one where he crows about people calling him Hot Shot at his Kiwanis meeting is delightful.
Listen below.
Sound is the backbone of memory. How many times have you been transported to childhood because of a simple tune?
When I can hear the memory, it’s more complete. I started saving these snippets, because I don’t ever want to forget them.
Do you have a Soundcloud account? I’d love to hear some of the things you’ve stored there. Drop a link to your page in today’s comments. Or start your own account by following the link HERE.
This is part of a series of pictures about making memories. If you liked the story why not share it with your friends? Let’s meet on Facebook or Twitter. If you prefer pictures you will surely like my Instagram. I’ve collected inspirational things and more on Pinterest! Any comments? Write them below!
16 Comments
Youre absolutely right…we only have one life and at last, there are only memories…
liebe Grüße,
Maccabros
I love storing some of these when memory isn’t enough. 🙂
What a great idea, Andra! thank you!
You’re welcome. Dad LOVED your comment regarding his weight.
Thank you Andra for this wonderful post.
I wasn’t sure why I was calling Mom so much. She’s 93 with a memory loop of about two minutes. Still, she sounds just the same. Then I realized I was calling her to hear her voice as often as I can. Unfortunately, the mysteries of voice mail confound her, but I’ll call her everyone Monday until she’s moved on:)
Record something. Put her on speaker phone and record it.
Thanks, I’ll try it!!
What an amazing idea and so special to have their messages recorded. I wish I had saved my Dad’s voice on my home voice mail. He used to call and say “Hi Deb, it’s just your Dad” As if he was just an ordinary person. I think I might start doing this on special messages! Thanks Andra!
I hope others will use these tools, AND I hope something of your dad’s voice will turn up. xo
As you know we lost our Tricia on the 29th of July. For the last year I’ve wrapped my world around her and I don’t know how to move forward. I’m going through the motions and I guess that’s all I need to do right now. She called earlier this year and left a voice message for Mike and I and I hope nobody ever removes it. She still couldn’t speak but in a whisper but she was upbeat. Her message started out, “Hi Mick and Lori. Guess who?” Ha. Love her. Miss her. It’s too late to record her voice now. Don’t let it be too late.
Tricia was something. I watched her struggle from all these miles distant, and I could see how special she was. It’s harder to fill those voids when truly excellent people leave us. I hope you can save that message someplace else as backup so you’ll always have that piece of her. xo
i haven’t saved my voice messages, but i need to start doing this. thanks for the reminder –
I don’t save them all, but I like having a few. If one is really funny or the perfect showcase for that person, I’ll add it to my cache.
Those messages are very precious, Andra. I save some of them, especially the ones from my family.
I try to be selective, but it’s hard to choose sometimes. 🙂
Oh, wow! Dave and I were desperately looking for an old message of his father leaving a message but they’re gone! 🙁 What a fantastic idea, Andra. The message from your aunt is precious as is the one from Roy! So adorable! Gotta do this ASAP! xoxo
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