This post is sponsored by Legacybox, a wonderful resource for preserving your memories through digitization. 

Over the last couple of months I have been working behind the scenes on a project with Legacybox. It’s a service that preserves old tapes, films, photos and audio and digitizes them so that you can have them easily accessible to find, revisit or send to friends and family.

It was quite a project to sort through 30 years worth of photos and videos. I spent the better part of two entire afternoons doing it.

Luckily, I had a very eager helper and good company.

Zoey enthusiastically nosed her way through all of my boxes and photos and waited at the bottom of the stairs for me whining every time I went up in the attic to bring down boxes.

After you order your Legacybox, you receive a kit that includes a how-to guide, round-trip shipping and a crush-proof box.

You organize and bar code all of your media. Each tape/video/film gets one sticker and each set of 25 pictures gets one sticker. I sorted my photos into groups by travel, family, college, cheerleading, etc. and then placed them in separate bags with bar codes.

I packed up my Legacybox (be sure to save the shipping box it comes in because it fits perfectly back in it to send off) and dropped it off at FedEx. I had a moment of panic as I left a box full of some of my most cherished photos and memories to be shipped off to the Legacybox headquarters in Tennessee but I trusted it would arrive back to me safely. You have the ability to track your box and your bar coded items throughout the whole process. Legacybox is also extremely communicative about the status of your order and makes the whole process so simple.

Just two short weeks later my box returned with all of my original photos and videos along with digital copies of everything saved to both DVD and flash drive.

I sent my completed box in for digitization on September 15. On September 19 I received the call about my brother. On September 27 my box arrived back to me.

To be honest, I almost pulled the plug on this post and the partnership. So many of the photos I had sent in were from my childhood and were full of family memories with my brother. But as I shared with you all when I initially wrote of his passing, focusing on the happy memories is a way that I can hold onto him closest in my heart. I am grateful to Legacybox for helping me preserve these special memories. The timing is both terrible and perfect all at the same time.

Here is a small glimpse into both my childhood and my memories of my brother.

Home Life

My brother and I were both born in Milledgeville, Georgia but moved to Dublin, Georgia when I was five and he was just a baby. We lived in the same house until my parents moved away in 2007.

From top left clockwise:

Always playing something together. // I come by my love of animals honestly and there was never a time when we didn’t have dogs in the house. Here’s my dad with our three dogs Scooby (a golden retriever who basically decided to move in with us and started the golden retriever love in our family), Big Foot and Star. We also had two cats at one point. // Junior prom. //Christmas. // Church youth choir performance. // Random Georgia snow day. //High school graduation.

My Grandparent’s House

We all spent so so so much time at my grandparent’s house growing up. My heart bursts with memories of all the happy times we shared there.

Cousins piled up on the couch on Christmas // Sunday school with my grandfather (always). // Cheering in my grandmother’s back yard with my best friend. I was always putting on some sort of dance/singing/cheer performance. Note my grandmother’s 1983 Toyota Tercel in the background. My grandmother LOVED this car and I can still remember every single thing about it down to how it smelled and the noise it made to remind you to set the parking brake. // Will with my grandmother’s cat Rascal. That cat was crazy full of personality. // Easter.

The Beach

Beach trips are some of the best times of my childhood. I went with my grandparents to Surfside Beach on spring breaks.

Fishing with my grandfather in Surfside Beach on a trip with my grandparents for spring break. // Destin, Florida where we spent two weeks every summer. I met a girl there from Indiana whose family vacationed at the same time as us every year and we became such good friends. I even flew up to Indiana to visit her when I was in high school. // My brother with my grandmother and my dad in Surfside for a family reunion one summer. // My brother with my Indiana friend and my best friend from home. // Happy.

Cheerleading

I started cheering my freshman year of high school and it quickly took over life. I cheered varsity football and competition.

Saturdays mornings were all about competitions. Huge props to my family for driving all over the state of Georgia to watch us compete. We won state my sophomore year! // Friday nights were spent either on the sidelines of the Shamrock Bowl cheering on our team or on the road if we were playing away. // I’ll never forget the electric feeling in the stadium when the team ran out on to the field. We would paint a huge crash through sign and some of the cheerleaders would hold the sign while others ran ahead of the team and back handspringed our way down the field. High school football was so fun. // We spent countless (seriously countless) hours painting signs to hang around the field. // After a cheerleading competition.

Post-High School

Memories from trip to San Antonio with my mom and my brother.

In closing, I am so appreciative to have had this opportunity to work with Legacybox. It offered me a very special and accessible way to save some of my most cherished and sweet memories. Although emotional, I had a great experience with Legacybox and I would use the service again and also gift it to friends and family. (I think it’s a nice gift idea to keep in mind for holiday as well.) My mom and I are planning on sorting through old family photos in the coming months and I’m going to suggest Legacybox to her as a way for us all to share the photos.

Now, your turn. I would love to get to know you guys a little more. Tell me something about your childhood…

• Where did you grow up?
• Do you have siblings? What’s the age difference? Were you/are you close?
• What sports did you play growing up? (I’m totally calling cheerleading a sport here!)
• Did you family have an annual trip tradition?
• Did you grow up with pets?

And finally, I just want to thank you all for reading. It’s been really nice to share a little more lately and to feel like I’ve connected with so many of you on a more personal level. We’re all on this crazy journey of life together.

Love,
Jen