I realized so much of my life hasn't been in a well-lit room, and I realized the importance of documenting my experiences as a way to memorialize them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm in a position to look back at my life, and I realized there were a number of experiences that needed to be documented.
Life is a lot more interesting if you are interested in the people and the places around you. So, illuminate your little patch of ground, the people that you know, the things that you want to commemorate. Light them up with your art, with your music, with your writing, with whatever it is that you do.
Some of the things that have been the most meaningful to me have been experiences I've shared with my family.
For me, to put together my museum and all my remembrances was a big effort mentally, physically and monetarily.
I just love the days when you come out of the archives with half a dozen excellent descriptions or poignant accounts of personal experiences.
Documenting trips makes them that much richer. I stick in train tickets and business cards from restaurants. It makes the whole experience poetic, describing the sights, smells and sounds around me. It means I can relive the holiday years later.
I've done an enormous amount of bringing light into people's lives, and I'm very proud of that and touching and inspiring people.
I store away my experiences and don't feel really happy until I've found a way to write about them.
The sort of lifetime achievement stuff that I'm getting now is kind of like Tom Sawyer's funeral because they all know I'm sick. I am getting buildings named after me and awards and stuff.
The first time I dedicated myself to resurrecting and preserving somebody's memories was with my great-uncle. I knew he was going to die in the next few years, and I had grown up listening to all his stories about people who had been trapped or chased by the Nazis. I began to record them.
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