This article is sponsored by Lifetime Memoirs.

No one gets to this point in life without stories. Lots of them. They’re told at holiday gatherings and reunions of college friends. They’re told at weddings, anniversaries, retirements, and, we hate to say it, funerals. These tales of love, awe, irony, and triumph pass from lips to ears, lips to ears, lips to ears. One day, they may pass from memory.

That’s why stories of our lives beg to be written down.

A lot of us have intentions of getting our story or our parents’ story down on paper. But if you’ve ever sat down in front of a blank legal pad or tried to arrange time with mom or dad for interviews, you know that’s easier said than done.

But what if you had help?

How to Write a Memoir

Lifetime Memoirs makes the telling and writing of your story simple and straightfoward. The company is a subsidiary of a U.K. company that has been helping people share their stories and then publishing them for years.

When you sign on as a Lifetime Memoir author, you get set up with an interviewer, who will spend hours getting to know you and your story and getting it recorded. A writer will craft your distinctive saga into prose; a copy editor will carefully review each word. Your photos will be scanned, and words and pictures will be put together in a number of linen-covered hardback books that you can give to family and friends.

And all the way through, you’ll have a project manager holding your hand.

The Gift of a Lifetime—Really

You could sign on with Lifetime Memoirs to write your own book. Or you could give the service to someone you love, someone with a story you want to hold onto always.

That’s what Ali Levin, who lives in Southern California, did a few years ago. She wanted to make sure her father had the chance to share his story with his grandkids and family not even born yet.

“It’s hard to give your father something,” she says. “I mean, he gave me everything.” Now, she has his story in book format and has loved reading the memories that have meant the most to him. But she also saw that over the nine months he working on it, the book added so much joy and meaning to his life. “I’ve given him the gift of remembering happy times,” she says. “You can’t give someone more than that.”

Read More: Publishing a Debut Novel Later in Life: Here’s How One Woman Did It

This article is sponsored by Lifetime Memoirs.