You make a very compelling case here, Sue. Things I had not thought about. I doubt I will be creating scrapbooks, but for my son, I leave three things: A full ancestry ( which took a year out of my life to research), my writings about grandma Katy's life, and a small hand-made, hand-written book titled Memories of My Son, which is something I continue to add to - just brief memories of our life together. So I am covering a few bases. And I highly encourage others to follow suit. Thanks for this post, my friend.
More than he EVER will want. Enough to last until he's dead. He might not read any of it after I am gone, but he has promised to get another cat and name it "Mom". Just to keep me in mind every day when I am no longer around. Bless him.
LOLOLOLOLOL! Oh Sharron. Our children ... bless their hearts. Mine surprised me by getting a paid subscription but she doesn't read many of the posts if at all. She told me, "Mom, who has the time." Yeah, she's got me there.
I love this! I have scrapbooks of my childhood years which are filled with art and writing. I also have boxes of my kids’ art and writing as well as a box of mementos from my adulthood that I plan to someday finish putting into scrapbooks. The problem is there’s quite a bit to sort through and I get so lost in just looking at everything—so progress is slow. Thanks for the motivation!
Glad this little article is spurring your onward. It IS daunting when there's a lot of mementos to go through, but what better way to display them than in a scrapbook. Another way for photos it to mount them in collages. My SIL "built" a wall of photo memories of all her family's growing up, events, gatherings, etc. It's under a sheet of plexiglass that about ...??? maybe eight-ten feet long?? Quite a project, but she's into doing stuff like that. I dare say it's a bit ambitious, but it's an awesome display. Any way you do it, anything's better than to have them languishing in a box in the closet.
Wow, 8x10 is huge! My mom actually did this too. Three large collages of family photos that are each about 2x3 feet under plexiglass. They are wonderful and someday I hope to put them up. Maybe next time I’m in Gville my dad will let me have them. It actually makes him too sad to look at them.
I hope you'll be able to obtain those collages while you father is still alive. Maybe he'll be relieved they're going to a good home and he won't have to look at them again.
My SIL's collage was 8 OR 10 feet long, I think. It took up most of a fairly long hallway. It was about three feet wide. Yes, it was huge, but whew! 8X10 is mammoth!.
This is great, Sue, and timely for me. Thanks. Been ruminating on an idea for a book and my original idea was basically scrapbook-y. As I have collected assets, I feel the pull to make it more linear narrative, but I'm thinking I should go with my original intention.
That's the cool thing about scrapbooks. They're unique to the maker. My scrapbooking efforts have grown to such ridiculous proportions, I have three huge books, one for each of the locales in which I lived. Ridiculous! But now they're useful to trigger writing projects. Good luck and have fun with yours. It'll be spectacular.
You make a very compelling case here, Sue. Things I had not thought about. I doubt I will be creating scrapbooks, but for my son, I leave three things: A full ancestry ( which took a year out of my life to research), my writings about grandma Katy's life, and a small hand-made, hand-written book titled Memories of My Son, which is something I continue to add to - just brief memories of our life together. So I am covering a few bases. And I highly encourage others to follow suit. Thanks for this post, my friend.
He also has your awesome Substack writings to fill in some blanks.
More than he EVER will want. Enough to last until he's dead. He might not read any of it after I am gone, but he has promised to get another cat and name it "Mom". Just to keep me in mind every day when I am no longer around. Bless him.
LOLOLOLOLOL! Oh Sharron. Our children ... bless their hearts. Mine surprised me by getting a paid subscription but she doesn't read many of the posts if at all. She told me, "Mom, who has the time." Yeah, she's got me there.
I love this! I have scrapbooks of my childhood years which are filled with art and writing. I also have boxes of my kids’ art and writing as well as a box of mementos from my adulthood that I plan to someday finish putting into scrapbooks. The problem is there’s quite a bit to sort through and I get so lost in just looking at everything—so progress is slow. Thanks for the motivation!
Glad this little article is spurring your onward. It IS daunting when there's a lot of mementos to go through, but what better way to display them than in a scrapbook. Another way for photos it to mount them in collages. My SIL "built" a wall of photo memories of all her family's growing up, events, gatherings, etc. It's under a sheet of plexiglass that about ...??? maybe eight-ten feet long?? Quite a project, but she's into doing stuff like that. I dare say it's a bit ambitious, but it's an awesome display. Any way you do it, anything's better than to have them languishing in a box in the closet.
Wow, 8x10 is huge! My mom actually did this too. Three large collages of family photos that are each about 2x3 feet under plexiglass. They are wonderful and someday I hope to put them up. Maybe next time I’m in Gville my dad will let me have them. It actually makes him too sad to look at them.
I hope you'll be able to obtain those collages while you father is still alive. Maybe he'll be relieved they're going to a good home and he won't have to look at them again.
My SIL's collage was 8 OR 10 feet long, I think. It took up most of a fairly long hallway. It was about three feet wide. Yes, it was huge, but whew! 8X10 is mammoth!.
Wonderful suggestion and commentary Sue! So many stories to share and so little time.
You're already doing a great job of getting all those stories out into the world.
This is great, Sue, and timely for me. Thanks. Been ruminating on an idea for a book and my original idea was basically scrapbook-y. As I have collected assets, I feel the pull to make it more linear narrative, but I'm thinking I should go with my original intention.
That's the cool thing about scrapbooks. They're unique to the maker. My scrapbooking efforts have grown to such ridiculous proportions, I have three huge books, one for each of the locales in which I lived. Ridiculous! But now they're useful to trigger writing projects. Good luck and have fun with yours. It'll be spectacular.