Jeff Kayser's gift to his family, written down.
Some men measure a life in titles. Jeff Kayser measures his in loves and lessons, and he's writing all of them down in his Memorygram memoir so his children and eight grandchildren never have to wonder who he was.
Jeff Kayser's memoir is called My Life, My Loves, My Lessons. Notice the order.
Not titles. Not accomplishments. Not the work he did to support the family or the years he put into building it. Just the life, the people he shared it with, and what he learned along the way.
The book runs on the happy machinery of fatherhood. Easter morning, with golden eggs hidden across the yard, each one holding a silver dollar, and a strict rule from Pap: each grandchild could only have one. Christmas Eve every year, with the movie Elf playing in the background while everyone in the room knows every line by heart. Hey Buddy, I hope you found your Dad. The whole family in matching pajamas around the tree.
Big holiday tables. Everyone able to make it home.
These are the chapters Jeff chose to record. Not the hardest moments. Not the ones that hurt. The ones he wants his eight grandchildren to remember he was part of.
The Traditions
A memoir written by a grandfather has a particular tone. It isn't trying to impress. It isn't building a case. It's just trying to make sure the small things, the ones that feel obvious in the moment, get written down before they're lost.
Jeff's chapters are full of those small things. The way the golden egg rule kept everyone playing the game the same way. The way Christmas Eve had its own soundtrack. The way matching pajamas turned an ordinary morning into a photograph someone would, decades from now, point to and say that's the year everyone made it home.
"I hope that I will be remembered for being a good husband, father and grandfather… honest, trustworthy, hard working, and a loyal and loving person at heart."
— Jeff Kayser, on what he hopes to leave behind
The Lesson
But ask Jeff what he most hopes his family takes from him, and the answer is not about being remembered well. It's about how he hopes they live.
It is the lesson under all the lessons. And it is pure Jeff.
"I do hope that being willing to take and give a good jab, laugh and enjoy life at times… instills in my family to take a moment and enjoy life more often."
— Jeff Kayser
That's the inheritance. Not the golden eggs. Not the pajamas. Not even the matching Christmas-Eve recitation of every line in Elf.
To take the jab. To give one back. To laugh. To enjoy the moment while it is, in fact, still a moment.
Jeff Kayser is writing it all down so his family won't have to figure it out the hard way. They have the receipts now. They have him, in his own words, telling them what he wants them to know.
He wants them to enjoy life more often.
He's leaving the instructions.
Every family has a story worth keeping. Memorygram helps you write yours.
Jeff's memoir began with a single prompt and the people he loves most. Yours can begin too.