white talk box

Lets
Talk
Family.

Our blog

The Best Time to Plant a Tree is… When?

In a recent conversation with a friend following a long holiday weekend, I asked if he’d devoted any extra time to his usual weekend pursuits. “No,” he said. “I was in Iowa at a celebration of life for my wife’s aunt.” “Oh,” I responded, ready to follow up with the normal “I’m so sorry for […]

The Family Farm – Fran’s 90th Birthday Gift

Steve and his family had been hearing stories about “the family farm” for most of their lives. Steve’s mother, Fran, had been born there and grew up there, and she had wonderful memories. But the family didn’t own the farm any longer, and none of them had been there for years. With Fran’s 90th birthday […]

Great! Now You Have a Digital Shoebox of Family Photos

Thanks to the services offered by companies like Memories Renewed, more and more people are getting their family photos scanned, converting them into digital assets. Awesome! That is a critical first step toward preserving important connections to your family’s past… little gateways into the people, places, and events that comprise your family’s history. After all, […]

Fire Up the Health Benefits of Sharing Memories

When you look back on old family photos or reminisce about happy moments from the past, you’re likely to be doing more than just reliving fond memories. Research has shown that recalling positive experiences can have a range of physical and mental health benefits. During a recent “siblings call,” which is a weekly Zoom call […]

Storytelling – Why Do It?

As the co-founder of a company that deeply appreciates the basic idea of connecting families through their stories, I tend to notice what others have to say about the value of sharing stories. And while their motivation for storytelling is drawn from differing objectives, they universally endorse the idea. What is it that makes those […]

Pumpkin Spice Wood-Fired Memories Happening Now

Ah, the crispness of fall. The smell of firepits holding back the evening chill. The pumpkin spice everything. The planning for costumes, parties, decorations, and treats for trick-or-treaters (or just for you – no judgement here). It’s a time of year like no other. From the first day of school to the Halloween costumes to […]

What’s a Vacation, a Trip, a Hike?

I was thinking about my neighbors the other day. They have a couple of small-ish kids – 6 and 9 years old. When summer hits, that family is ON THE GO. This past year they’ve experienced hiking in the Rocky Mountains, an incredible trip to Disney World, a couple of camping trips in local (a […]

Why Do We Take Pictures, Anyway?

Why do we take pictures? Why do we save them? What do we do with them? If you’re reading this, the chances are that YOU have a phone filled with photos you’ve taken. You might be of an age where you have a box (or more) of physical photos, still tucked into the envelopes along […]

Life Through the Windshield

Sometimes a story just strikes a chord. This one did so for me, both literally and figuratively. The story is an interview with a 97-year-old concert pianist. It aired on CBS Sunday Morning and was charmingly reported by correspondent Mo Rocca. Her name is Ruth Slenczynska (pronounced “slen-JEN-ska”), and she had recently (as of April […]

What Does It Mean to Connect to Family?

Family. That word can mean different things to different people, I have learned. There’s the obvious – the family you’re born into or adopted into – your birth family. In my case, that means my parents and siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. As each generation reaches adulthood, we add spouses or partners and possibly […]

Reunions That Never Stop

Family reunions. Some people love them. Some hate them. Others are somewhere in between, falling more into the “it depends” category… perhaps first wanting to know who else will be there? Or where will it be held? Or what events are planned? Me? I fall into the “love them” camp. How about you? What camp […]

Scrapbooking, Turbo-Charged

Are you ready to take scrapbooking to the next level? You do that through famsourcing. It’s not a typo. I’m talking about famsourcing – a new word we have coined that means “sourcing from everyone in the family.” It’s a play on crowdsourcing but a lot more personal – to you, to your family, and […]

Photos and the Great Comment Conundrum

Read this if you’ve ever been at an event or on a vacation at which pictures have been taken, and especially if YOU have ever been the picture-taker at an event or on a vacation. Serious question: How have those photos been shared? Casually? … Thoughtfully? … Willy-Nilly? … All of the above? Scroll through […]

A Disaster is Coming. What Do You Grab?

My heart might have broken, just a little bit. I happened to see some news coverage of some storms that hit the South pretty hard, and one of the camera shots was of someone picking an old family picture up out of the rubble, shaking it off, and saying something on the order of, “I […]

The Next Best Thing to Being There

Sometimes you just can’t be there in person. It happened to me recently. The event was a book launch. The author of the book being launched, Betsy, is a first cousin, once removed. (If you’re not familiar with genealogy kinship terms, Betsy is my first cousin’s daughter.) The book, a graphic novel titled Amelia Erroway, […]

Travel Plans? Travel Pics? Travel Logs.

What memories do you have of those amazing trips you took with your parents when you were just a kid? Thank goodness for photos and videos, right? They give you an opportunity to go back in time to re-experience those moments. As you browse through them, do you ever reflect on what you were thinking […]

A Scrapbook Story of a Steamboat and Mom

Even with war happening on other continents, in the summer of 1945 here in the US, the SS North American was cruising the Great Lakes, and my mom and her sister, my aunt, were part of her crew that summer. We had heard stories about that summer every now and then – brief anecdotes brought […]

When Stories Take Unexpected Detours

The TightKnit Story Album had an appropriate title: 1969-70 Jam Sessions. All the photos in the album captured the party atmosphere that surrounded the five guys performing jazz and swing tunes from the 40’s and 50’s. Two of the musicians were my uncles – one playing trumpet and the other controlling the dynamics and providing […]

The Trouble with Tree-Thinking Part II

In my prior post, I shared my secret for capturing family history. That secret? Take an event-based approach! So many meaningful memories come from your past interactions with family and friends while you were traveling together or gathered for a special event. You can read all about it here. But how do you do that? How do you capture and share event-based stories? Especially if you’re conditioned to think first about the family tree […]

The Trouble with Tree Thinking 

Have we been “conditioned” to think of our family history like a family tree? Do we automatically think that a family history is mainly about the connections we have to our ancestors?   I think so. You?   And I think it’s why, for many, the notion of starting to pull together stories and photos to share with the rest of the […]

Thanksgiving Recipes and Stories

You wouldn’t think the game show Family Feud could inspire a blog post, I bet. But a question on a “Fast Money” segment in a recent episode caught my attention:  “Name a Thanksgiving food for which you have an old family recipe.”   The first person up answered “gravy.” Meeep. No points for that one.  The second person […]

What’s Missing from Your Bucket List?

That list… you know the one. The list of things we want to do while we still can. The “bucket list.”  For many, there are trips to exotic – or not so exotic – places. “Airboat through the Everglades,” perhaps. Or “visit all 50 states.” Maybe it’s simple – “Go camping in the mountains” or “take a bike […]

Yes, Your Stories Are Worth Telling

How did you react when one of your parents or grandparents told you a family story that you had never heard before?   Think about that for a moment as you conjure up one of those stories.   Was it a surprise? Disbelief? Heartwarming? Hysterical? Historical? Revealing? Revolting? Unforgettable? Educational? Intriguing?   Of course, how you reacted depended entirely on the story and […]

Who Will Champion Your Family History?

You can do a quick Google search and turn up lots of good articles that offer advice and “how to” guidance for capturing and preserving your family history. For example, I recently became aware of a piece published by AARP titled, How to Create an Oral Family History. It’s well written, gives you some good […]

What’s The Succession Plan For Your Family’s Legacy?

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to reconnect with an 87 year old genealogist. I will call him Howard. We knew each other because we briefly overlapped at the same company, though he retired 30 years ago. Since retirement, he and his wife spent much of their time researching, connecting, aggregating, and building the extended family story.  The last time I talked to him was 6 years ago. He showed me […]

“I Never Realized…”

Kate Hellmers has been receiving a lot of emails from relatives and friends lately. That, by itself, is not surprising. Each of them expressed some form of gratitude for her efforts to capture and share family stories.   What IS surprising is how many of those emails also acknowledged new discoveries – things previously not known to the senders – that were almost always introduced with the phrase, “I […]

Today’s Happenings are Tomorrow’s Memories

What’s happening?   We talk a lot about photos, heirlooms, and artifacts from the past, I know. And sometimes we all lose sight of a rather important fact.  Today is tomorrow’s past.  Whoa. That seemed deep, didn’t it? Bear with me here…  The neighbors went off to Colorado with their two kids, climbed some mountains, did […]

The Dash

A good 20 years or so ago, I attended a business conference. One of the speakers on the agenda was Lou Holtz. Well known and highly regarded as a successful college football coach, Lou is also a terrific motivational speaker.   I recall him being both entertaining and inspirational – delivering cleverly crafted one-liners interspersed with meaningful life lessons. But there’s one thing I remember very specifically. During […]

Documenting Family Stories

Is it worth the effort? In short, yes. But seriously, how hard can it be?   Let’s take a look at that. But first, we’ll begin by understanding what makes family stories so worthwhile.   Deep down, you already know. In fact, you probably don’t even have to dig that deep. You can probably just scratch through the surface – like a gardener gently moving some topsoil […]

Is There Frosting on My Nose?

The following is a story that was shared with me by one of our TightKnit friends. Perhaps it will bring back memories for you as it did for me. – Eric   Ah, the smell of the house on cookie-baking day. The mess in the kitchen, the warmth of the oven, and the smells – did I mention the smells?  […]

Getting Started with Getting Digital

Have a bunch of old photos or slides that you want to share with others, but they aren’t in digital format? You’re in luck. You have more options today than ever before, and it doesn’t have to be hard or expensive to do.  Here are some tips, whether you do it yourself or hire someone to help you. There are quality, cost and effort trade-offs to each […]

The Family Kitchen Table

Remember those days when you were young, and family – perhaps aunts and uncles or grandparents — were visiting? At some point, they all gravitated to the kitchen or dining room table and just talked. Initially, the conversation was likely about what each other’s families were up to, current events, maybe even politics or religion […]

Family Questions with Answers for a Lifetime

Think about the last time you sat down with a family elder (or a bunch of them) and you passed around some old family pictures. Maybe they were of people and events familiar to you, or maybe they were recently unearthed photos that you were hoping to learn something about.   What comments did you all make as the conversation took place? What questions did you ask?  […]

Your Family Photos: How to Transform Them To A Living Legacy

Family photos. If you are like almost everyone, you have them! Great! And, like most people, when asked where a particular photo is, you may not really know. You have probably felt the pain too when trying to find that photo. It can be immensely frustrating! The issue of “Where are my photos?” is related […]

Technology Can Reveal Hidden Photo Treasures

Do you have some vintage family photos that you just cannot figure out? Who are those people? Where was it taken? When was it taken? What is going on? It used to be that, if you did not know, then forget it! You may as well throw those photos away. But times are different, and […]

Hidden Stories That Inspire Generations

Has this happened to you? You show a family member an old family photo, and that photo triggers a memory and an amazing story. It proves something that we all know: That is, it is not the photo that is necessarily of value, but in fact, it is the story behind the photo that is […]

Can the Family Slide Show Make a Comeback?

Did you grow up looking forward to the next family slide show? Did you or your parents ever take “slide” photographs? Slides were amazing things. Near perfect resolution, meaning you could blow one up into a wall-sized poster if you wanted. A transparency, which, like a negative, light could be shone through. However, as opposed […]

A Box of Family Pictures: The Flux Capacitor in Your Attic

Time travel has always been a popular topic for science fiction. You find it in books, like The Time Machine (a true classic) by H. G. Wells. Or A Wrinkle in Time, the first in a series authored by Madeleine L’Engle, that I read aloud to my kids at bedtime – a chapter a night […]

My Sister Made Me A Scrapbook…

One of our newer TightKnit users sent me a story she wrote, suggesting I could share it on our blog. I LOVE this story! And here it is… My sister was giddy when I opened a big flat gift from her a few Christmases ago – so excited she could hardly sit still. It was […]

Family Heirlooms: The Vase We Don’t Understand

Do you have a family heirloom but you’re not sure why it’s an “heirloom”?  The time had come for Mom and Dad to downsize. Their modest home had barely seemed large enough while they were raising six kids. But now… decades later… it was more than they really needed, and definitely more than they could […]

Your ‘DNA Relative Finder’ Found a Distant Cousin. Yay! Now What?

Who shares your DNA? For around $100, people, by the millions, are finding out. There are many reasons why people might want to do this. For those of us with a passion for researching and building out our family’s history, one of the huge benefits is finding distant cousins with whom you share great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, […]

Photos of Forgotten Relatives in the Northeast

Do you have forgotten relatives? Perhaps you have a photo or two, but you’ve lost track of who they are or how they tie in to your family? In the northeastern corner of the US, a group of people created a Facebook group called “Old Pictures of Forgotten Maine.” Most of the photos shared in […]

Photos and Stories and Families, Oh My!

Ah, the magic of old family photos. You look at one and, in an instant, neurons start firing in your brain as you vividly recall episodes from your past. Your memories can trigger a whole spectrum of possible emotions: Love… as you relive special moments from your wedding day photos, Anxiety… as your knees grow […]

When It Falls On Your Lap

Do you have a favorite family photo at home? Specifically, a vintage one? Perhaps of your grandparents? Or, your mother as a little girl? Or, your parents at your wedding? Most people do. I certainly do. In fact, my wife and I have the ones I just mentioned and many more old family photos hanging […]

Family Heirlooms: Grammy’s Bread Bowl

My Grammy made the very best bread in the whole world. Even though I was barely three years old when she died, I have a VERY vivid memory of sneaking out to her kitchen and pinching off a little bit of the heel. Confession: I did that over and over again until it looked like […]

Will Your Family Photos End Up in a Landfill?

Are you concerned that your family photos may someday wind up in a landfill? If not, you should be. I am not necessarily talking about the photos you took yesterday of that amazing pizza, though, to some people, that too maybe something worth keeping. I am really referring to the old family photos, slides, negatives […]

Family Photo Books Don’t Breathe

Do you like to create photo books? I got to thinking about photo books last week when I received an email from Google Photos inviting me to “make a photo book in minutes.” You might like to make photo books. A lot of people do. Judging by the number of places that are vying for […]

How Facebook Fails Your Family

Was your dad or grandfather in World War II? Do you have a family member who was in any war – it really does not matter, as the experience was likely horrific no matter where or when it occurred. In the winter of 1945, my 20 year old dad fought for his life in a foxhole in Europe during the […]

On Your Mark… Get Set… _____ (fill in the blank)

How did you fill in the blank?  It depends on what you are getting set to do, doesn’t it? If you are going to run a race, you fill in the blank with an enthusiastic Go! At least you did when you were a kid. Especially after you purchased a new pair of tennis shoes, which you knew […]

Will the Future Appreciate the Past?

Will the future appreciate the past? Good question. It was the subject of a conversation I recently had with a friend, and she was deeply concerned about it. I’ll come back to that discussion in a bit. First, let me give you some context. “The future” is a reference to those who stand to inherit […]

The Rest of the [Family] Story

And Now… The Rest of the Story  Does that phrase stir up any memories for you?   If you spent any time listening to the radio during the 30+ years spanning May, 1976 through February, 2009, you instantly connected The Rest of the Story with the distinctive voice of news broadcaster and radio personality, Paul Harvey.   With a little help from […]

The Living, Breathing, Truth

There is life in old photos. Just ask Ken Burns.   I am sure you are familiar with Ken’s works. “He has been making documentary films for over forty years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made.” The Ken Burns website  And, in […]

Your Family is History

Say what? Is that a thinly-veiled threat?   Like the kind you might hear while watching an action-packed episode of a good police drama? Where the good guys have just concluded a thrilling high-speed chase and collared a notorious drug kingpin who, as he’s being led away with his hands securely cuffed behind his back, suddenly stops and turns to the hero cop, piercing his captor with a […]

Put the Fun in Family Narratives

Did you know that having a strong family narrative can be very beneficial to your children? Not only has it been proven to be good for their wellbeing, but establishing it can be fun to do.
TightKnit, Inc.
Have questions or need more info?
>> CONTACT US <<

LIMITED TIME OFFER

Free Lifetime Membership to TightKnit!*

TightKnit is the perfect place for families and friends to share and preserve their photos, memories and life stories, together.

*Link to the Promotion Rules from our sign-up screen.

Already a member? Thank you!
Enjoy your free lifetime membership!

Get Started