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More Than a Memoir
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Tell your whole life story — just by talking

A memoir is a book.
This is more.

Answer warm questions in your own voice. We turn them into a beautiful Life Vitae — your stories, your wisdom, your photos, your voice — kept private in Your Vault until you choose to share it.

Start your Life Vitae — freeSee a finished example

Free to build, always private until you say otherwise.

Library of Wisdom

Wisdom from real lives

Hard-earned lessons, shared by the people who lived them — free to read, with the whole life behind each card. It's also exactly what your own Life Vitae becomes.

Today's wisdom

🪙 Money · ☀️ Joy & gratitude

Rich

I was born two years into the Depression, so I'll tell you what rich is and you can stop wondering. Rich is when nobody you love needs a thing you can't get them. A coat, a coffin, bail, breakfast — doesn't matter what it is. By that measure I've been rich since about 1974, and I never once had what the bank would call money. Figure out which one you're chasing, honey. They don't run in the same direction.

To someone younger: Add up what you'd grab in a fire. That's your net worth.

— Dorothy "Dot" Jablonski · Wire-winder, diner owner, fed every kid on Cherry StreetDemonstration

❤️ Love & dating · 💍 Marriage & partnership · 🕊️ Regret & forgiveness

The Golden Ruler of love

I once asked how to tell real love from its imitations, and the answer became the ruler I measured my whole life by: true love is what makes both people happy — what benefits both of us, in body and mind. And one rule sits underneath it: you come first. You cannot pour from an empty cup, so tend yourself well, and then give.

To someone younger: If love only serves one of you, it isn't love yet. Real love leaves you both better.

— Love-in · 사랑한님

🧠 Mental health · 🕊️ Regret & forgiveness · ☀️ Joy & gratitude

Your hard feelings are traffic lights

A dislike, a sting, a sigh — I stopped treating these as sins to suppress. They are signal lights. They mean only that you have drifted off the road of love, and they point straight back to what you actually want. Behind every dislike waits the very love you are missing. Read the signal, then choose again.

To someone younger: A hard feeling isn't a verdict on you. It's a signal pointing back toward what you love.

— Love-in · 사랑한님

🤝 Friendship & community · ❤️ Love & dating · ☀️ Joy & gratitude

Give love first

For too long my heart waited to receive, and suffered from the waiting. The turn came when I reversed the order: bless first, give first, without keeping score. Love that you give finds its way back to you; love you only wait for never arrives. The posture of giving first is the thing that opens you.

To someone younger: Stop waiting to be loved first. Give it freely, and watch what comes home.

— Love-in · 사랑한님

Browse the Library of Wisdom

It feels like a conversation, because it is one

1

Talk, don't type (unless you want to)

One warm question at a time. Answer by voice or keyboard — or let the interviewer ask gentle follow-ups. Never a form, never homework.

2

Your words, your way

Choose how much help you want: polished prose drafted for you, a light tidy that keeps your voice, or no touch at all. Nothing is ever published without your approval.

3

A page worthy of a life

Your stories become a beautiful Life Vitae, kept in Your Vault — chapters, wisdom, letters, photos, and voice, private by default. Share it with family when you're ready, or publish it to the world.

See the whole process →

More than chronology

A life isn't just what happened. It's what it meant. A Life Vitae is built from modules that capture both.

Life Chapters

The narrative backbone, from origins to the current chapter.

Wisdom Cards

Hard-earned lessons on love, work, money, grief, and joy.

Ethical Will

The values and beliefs you want your family to carry forward.

Letters

Words for specific people — including 'open when…' letters.

Photos & Artifacts

The recipe box, the workbench, the porch — and their stories.

Voice

Your actual voice, in your own words. Some things text can't hold.

Two ways to get there

Do it yourself

Build your entire Life Vitae for free — every conversation, every draft, every photo, unlimited private editing and preview. Pay once when you're ready to publish it as a hosted page, order a printed keepsake, or get a QR card that links the physical world to your story.

Start building free

White-glove

Prefer to simply sit and talk? We conduct the interviews, draft every chapter for your approval, and deliver a finished Life Vitae — published, printed, and ready to give. You bring the life; we bring everything else.

Learn about white-glove
Daniel and his dad, arms around each other at dinner

From our founder

“One day my dad was giving me life advice, and I asked if I could record him. Tears welled up in my eyes — I knew this was the video I'd rewatch over and over once he's gone.”

Daniel Mingue Son, founder of More Than a Memoir

Why I built this — a letter from our founder →

You spent a lifetime living it.
Now enjoy telling it.

Your kids and grandkids will ask one day. Have something wonderful to show them. Start today — it's free, it's private, and the first conversation takes ten minutes.

Begin a Life Vitae