This is the first in a series about creating photo (and other) books to help you, your family, and future caregivers focus on the richness and significance of your life - instead of primarily on infirmities you might develop.

I realized one day that my mother had entirely forgotten my father, her devoted husband of 38 years. She didn't even know his name or what he had looked like. Except that she had three children, it was as if he had never existed.

Of course, my siblings and I knew that her memory was sieve-like, but until then we hadn't realized how completely she had lost track of her own personal history. I asked my brother (the family historian) to write a short biography of her life. He wrote about 30 pages, including pictures. We repeatedly took our mother through it; she always commented about events described and smiled at the pictures.

I also asked my brother to find her photo albums from 40-60 years ago; she was thrilled to have them. We were later perplexed and unnerved to find pictures torn out of the albums. It was hard not to wince: in all cases, the photos were originals; no copies existed and now they were torn, bent and scattered.

My husband broke the code: "She wants to know who those people are in the pictures," he said. "And she wrote everybody's name, the date and the location on the back of every picture she ever had. She's ripping them out of the album so she can see their backs. She's not randomly destroying photo albums for no reason."

My mother is now somewhat past the point where providing her with those photos in a more indestructible way will change anything for her, but her situation did start me thinking about my own future. My husband and I do not have children; I am the youngest of my generation; and I am likely to outlive my husband. I might one day be in my mother's shoes - and without descendants to bring me photo albums or tell me my life story. And how frightening would that be, to have no sense of who you are or what your life has been?

What can be done? What record could be created that wouldn't require a computer or other electronic equipment to open? Technology could change, rendering the recording or document useless 20 or 30 years from now, or the file could be lost, or I might not understand how to use the technology any more. What record wouldn't take up much space, and wouldn't fall apart during the coming decades? What could be easily duplicated or replaced if needed?

We are incredibly fortunate to live in an era when these issues have been addressed. It is now possible to create photo books full of photos and as much text as you want to put in them. These are not photo albums, inches thick and bulging with photos that fall out over time, and not online "albums" that no one remembers how to access a few years later. These are genuine hard copy books, like coffee table books. Such books can help individuals remember their legacy - the impact of their lives.

Twenty years ago, you might have paid thousands of dollars to create such a book. But today, they can cost little more than you'd pay to take a family of four to the movies and buy snacks.

I have started to create such photo books about my own life - one per decade - which I am happy to have now and which will make it far easier for me and any potential caregivers down the road to know who I am and what has mattered to me.

I will explain in future columns more about how to make and use photo books. If you don't want to wait, you might go to www.mypublisher.com, one service I have used to create more than a dozen different photo books, and see what they have to offer. (Full disclosure: while I have no financial stake in mypublisher.com, my husband owns about $700 of stock in Shutterfly, its parent company).