Deepening Bonds
When recording a story, we’re actively listening and deepening our bond with the storyteller. That bond then extends across generations and preserves family stories for generations to come.
While working with storytellers and their families, we’ve noticed a strengthening of relationships and have noticed that for the younger generations and storytellers alike,
- Their outlook on life and its struggles changes
- They make active changes in their lives to create more intentional relationships with their family and friends
- They have a renewed sense of self and excitement for their future
Everyone from the storyteller, to their families, to the interviewer, to the organizers, learns something new about themselves and someone else.
FAQ: About The Legacy Recorder
Q: What is The Legacy Recorder and what is its mission?
A: The Legacy Recorder, founded by Gael Gilliland, helps every person tell their life story in a simple, intentional way for future generations to cherish. The mission is to help people share and preserve their stories before they fade, recognizing that life is happening in every moment for everyone. The Legacy Recorder Community Guide provides individuals and families with tools to get started on their legacy today.
Q: Who is Gael Gilliland and why did she create The Legacy Recorder?
A: Gael Gilliland is a freelance writer with over ten years of experience helping businesses and individuals create clear, effective content. Her personal experiences—including the loss of her father shortly after her first child was born, and witnessing her grandmothers meet for the first and only time—inspired her lifelong passion to help people tell their stories. She has made it her mission to get those stories down on paper before they fade.
Q: What benefits do people experience from recording stories with The Legacy Recorder?
A: When recording stories, people actively listen and deepen bonds with storytellers, extending those bonds across generations. Observed benefits include: changed outlook on life and its struggles, active changes to create more intentional relationships with family and friends, renewed sense of self and excitement for the future. Everyone involved—from storyteller to families to interviewer to organizers—learns something new about themselves and someone else.
On a personal note...
The two women in this photograph are my grandmothers. Together, they are holding my oldest daughter. This will be the first and last time these two women are in the same place together. My paternal grandmother has flown in from Belfast, Northern Ireland to say goodbye to my father who is dying.
Amidst the sadness of my father dying, my first child was born just in time to meet him. In fact, he would enter the ICU just 7 days after she was born. My future mother in law, who is taking the picture, has flown in to meet her first grandbaby. It was, as you can imagine, a chaotic time.
The baby is now in her teens, my paternal grandmother is dead, and my maternal grandmother has entered the stages of life where the care reverts to the adult children. I share this story with you not to make you sad, but to help you understand why I'm devoting my life to helping people share their stories.
LIFE IS HAPPENING IN EVERY MOMENT FOR EVERYONE.
About Gael
Gael Gilliland is the founder of The Legacy Recorder which helps every person tell their life story in a simple, intentional way for future generations to cherish. She published The Legacy Recorder Community Guide so that individuals and families can get started on their legacy today.
In addition to The Legacy Recorder, Gael has been a freelance writer for over ten years. She’s worked with businesses and individuals to help them create clear and effective content. Her projects include several full-length books, articles, and social media content for full calendar years.
Gael is fortunate to work with her lifelong passion. From a young age, Gael had the desire to master the written word and help people tell their stories. Her own life experiences in college, motherhood, marriage, and loss have fueled her own story and given it a colorful arc of ups and downs, of losing and finding herself, and of discovering the beauty in every person’s story. This is why she has made it her mission to get those stories down on paper before those stories fade.
