A stranger hired me to make his memorial video. Spending his final 3 weeks with him changed my life.

The author interviewed his client at an assisted living facility.

Courtesy of the author Larry Aaronson contacted me after seeing the first Facebook ad for my legacy-story business.

He wanted to record his extraordinary life while he was still able to tell the stories himself.

I ended up documenting the community that surrounded him through his final days.

It started with a Facebook ad in late April.

Eighty-five-year-old Larry Aaronson responded on the first day.

When I called, he said immediately that he was in the hospital, that he had "about a year to live", and that he wanted me to produce a video for his memorial service .

My business, Heritage Stories , helps older people capture their legacies.

I hadn't exactly planned on producing end-of-life videos.

I also wasn't intimidated by the gravity of the ask.

He was a high school teacher In our initial conversation, Larry described what he called "a life of serendipity", sharing a stream of fantastical stories.

The one he would tell repeatedly was about being a progressive high school teacher in Cambridge, MA, who taught many prominent figures: local politicians, celebrities including Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, and New York Knicks legend, Patrick Ewing.

I left the call with the sense I was part of some elaborate Facebook scam .

A Google search proved everything was true.