Every once in a while, a project comes along that smacks us upside the head (in a good way). A project that, in the doing of it, becomes part of our narrative, part of the story of our career as personal historians, that we will never forget. It’s a story we tell often to convince others, and remind ourselves, of the power of story.

Working with Gene to bring this oversized coffee-table book, "A Life Blessed," to fruition was a joyful experience.

This heartwarming little volume began as a stack of typewritten life stories that Michael Mazzarella had written over the years. His daughter hired us to create a book for him as a birthday surprise, and soon we received a box in the mail containing his stories and about a hundred original photographs.

This family history book began with a (let's admit it, rather boring) "narrative report" automatically generated by a genealogy program. We added some additional stories, photos, and custom design to bring it to life for the family.

A personal history doesn't have to been long or comprehensive. In this book, our client is refreshingly honest about some of his most meaningful experiences.

When we first met Jim Morrison at the UGA Family History conference last April, he was interested in having us create a book about his wife's family. We were fascinated as he described some of the history his father-in-law, Robert "Rip" Young, a two-star brigadier general in the US Army.