How can I document or preserve my family's creative practices before they're lost?

This question itself shows love. But here's something worth sitting with: you don't preserve tradition by freezing it. Murasaki's *Tale of Genji* preserved not a static image of court life, but the interior texture of it—the feeling, the observation, the way it changed people. Instead of thinking 'documentation,' think 'witness.' Record your grandmother's hands while she's making something, but also ask her why she does it that way. Write down recipes, but also the stories attached to them. Film someone demonstrating a craft, but capture the pauses, the decisions, the small corrections. This is different from a how-to video. The real preservation happens when you *practice* what you're learning. Your hands learn the movement. Your body develops the muscle memory. That's how it stays alive—not in a video file, but in you. Consider creating something small: a short essay, a photo series with captions, an audio recording. Something you can share with younger people in your family. Let them see you taking it seriously. Preservation is an act, not a project. It's ongoing, relational, alive. Start with one practice. Document it through your own engagement with it.