Since 1995, the McLaughlin family has been telling our stories in unique ways and archiving them. Yes, future generations of the family will know more about themselves through us. And it's also such a blessing for those of us here now to celebrate each other through story, from the heart.
Not-So-Trivial Matters
Not-So-Trivial-Matters: Tom McLaughlin, Sr. Edition
On Christmas morning 1995, our first since the passing of Dad-Grandpa, Tom presented this deck of cards to Mom-Grandma-Morai. On the front of each card, Tom had written a question or statement about Dad-Grandpa. On the back was the answer. The family sat in Laurie and Rich's living room and went through the whole stack. We laughed and cried. We told stories and created new Dad-Grandpa trivia questions.
In 2012, we reflected on each person in the family and wrote the nicest thing we could say about them. Below is the email Tom sent to begin the process. He collected the reflections, printed a sheet for each family member, and presented them on Christmas morning.
In 2013, we each thought of two people in the family, and we wrote about our favorite stories about and memories of our loved ones. On Christmas morning, Tom presented a printout of the writing to each person.