Across the country, it is graduation season.
Squished in the pews of the awe-inspiring St. Ignatius Church, excitedly awaiting with other families at the 2016 University of San Francisco graduation, I reflected on my daughter’s first moving-up ceremony from pre-school, 17 years earlier. 
It was a less grand ceremony in the basement of a local church in our town, but the handful of parents were no less proud or excited to see their child ready to take the next leap toward maturity, even if it was only to kindergarten.
When it comes to documenting life, both ceremonies carry substance and value. The fleeting and precious thoughts and motions of a 5-year-old will be cherished every year thereafter – especially when captured on video and contrasted with a ceremony as significant as a college graduation. Photos and memories can fade with time, but a video can bring a memory back to life the way no other medium can.
Gazing around the packed church, I noticed the number of grandparents (including my daughter’s), and wondered, “How many families would take the opportunity to share generational stories and record them on video?” Now is the time. We take these milestones and weave them together to create a family heirloom documentary— a film with the voices, expressions, emotion and impressions of all those who were there.
When my younger daughter graduated from high school last year, the preschool “graduation” footage was used in a video for the senior class. To watch the 18-year-old faces …