Remember when documenting life required something more than just a phone in your pocket? You’d have a camera slung over one shoulder and a camcorder over the other, like a one-person film crew at every birthday party and vacation. You’d drop off rolls of film at Costco, wait a few days, and come back to envelopes of glossy prints, maybe even doubles if there was a sale. The truly organized among us labeled albums or built scrapbooks. Back then, a “cloud” was something that threatened rain, not a place to store your photo archive and all your web files.
Fast forward to today, and many of those carefully preserved memories—photo albums, scrapbooks, VHS tapes, film reels, slides—are tucked away in attics or basements or lining the bottom of bookshelves. They take up space, and if we’re honest, they’re rarely revisited. It’s not that we don’t care about the memories. It’s that they’re not easily accessible. That’s where digitization comes in.
I recently spoke with Linda Campbell from our Move Makers team, who’s spent the past decade working with a service called FOREVER. The idea behind FOREVER began with a familiar problem: too many photos, too many formats, and no reliable long-term solution. Founder Glen Meakem, an entrepreneur and father of five, realized his own family’s photos and memories were scattered and vulnerable. Between outdated technology, accidental loss, and the fine print of subscription-based storage, nothing truly felt permanent.
So he built something different.
FOREVER offers what it calls permanent digital storage. Instead of paying a monthly fee to “rent” space in the cloud, you purchase storage once and own it. Your photos, videos, and documents are preserved not just for your lifetime, but for 100 years beyond, supported by a long-term investment fund designed to maintain the system over time.
What makes this especially appealing is the sense of stability. Your files aren’t tied to an ongoing subscription that could lapse. They’re yours. You can designate family members to inherit your archive, ensuring that your memories remain accessible across generations.
There are also thoughtful technical safeguards in place. Files are stored at full resolution and backed up in multiple secure data centers. As technology evolves, FOREVER automatically updates file formats so your images and videos don’t become obsolete. (No more wondering how to play that old MiniDV tape.) And in a time when data privacy is often an afterthought, Forever emphasizes that your content remains yours: they don’t mine, sell, or advertise against your data.
How do you start the process? That’s where the FOREVER Box comes in. You gather your physical media—photos, slides, videotapes—and send them in with a trackable barcode. From there, trained technicians digitize everything and return your originals to you, along with high-quality digital versions. You can view, download, and share your memories easily, and decide what you’d like to preserve long-term.
And, if you’re moving, you don’t have to cart extra boxes filled with memorabilia to your new place, or face the difficult decision to make a trip to the dumpster. Now, those long-forgotten family moments aren’t buried in a basement—they’re available to share with your kids, your friends, or even just yourself on a quiet afternoon.
Because in the end, the goal isn’t just to store memories. It’s to actually enjoy them.
To start using FOREVER you can sign up with Linda as your Ambassador, using this link: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/linda-campbell A good start is with a free 2GB account. Ambassadors also provide ongoing personal support with everything from using the software and packing digitization boxes to creating photo books and gifts. Clients also have access to Linda’s free monthly Zoom workshop for hands-on help, questions, and dedicated time to work on their accounts.
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin is an organizer for The Move Makers and a writer and blogger. He was educated in an English boarding school (no, not Hogwarts!) and has lived in eight countries. He’s been paid money for the following: writing and blogging, teaching ESL, carrying suitcases as a hotel porter, cleaning carpets, being the refined English telephone voice behind a friend’s attempt to be a literary agent, editing a Japanese dictionary, being an in-home caregiver, and singing at weddings.
From FOREVER website
From Linda Campbell’s website