A Scrapbook is a Home

By:Janet D.

As a child, my mother did not keep a photo album of me. I was a second child with a busy, single mom who worked full- time to keep our house running. Photo albums just didn't make it on the list of "to dos". So there are no pictures of me taking my first step, my first haircut, or even my prom date. Don't get me wrong there are a few pictures of me along the way, but none have a story. None have a home.

I became the busy Mom a little over four years ago and for Mother's Day I gave my children a gift. I began to scrapbook. I want each of my little wonders to know that I thought their lives were special. I've created for each of my children a book of their own for them to read, to enjoy, and to treasure. A book no one else could have written. I am the only one who will know the exact day they took their first step, what their first word was, what food they hated and what they loved.

Scrapbooking gives me the ability to tell the story of my children's lives. A life. Isn't that the most important thing to preserve and capture? I'm able to capture moments in time that otherwise might be forgotten. Scrapbooking allows you to tell the story of a lifetime . . . all the things you found so wonderful, so loveable, so funny. You capture feelings in what you see in the picture and by what you write on the page.

I look back to the pages in my son's scrapbook and see that chubby, little face that has faded into a little boy whos features are no longer "babyish" excepte in my memories. The scrapbook keeps memories alive. You don't have to try to memorize a look, a laugh, a chubby little face, or a funny haircut. You'll remember them forever just by looking through the scrapbook of life that you've created. Scrapbooks play a most important role . . . they give your lifetime of memories a home.

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: A Scrapbook for My Sister, by Michelle R.