The Joy of Scrapbooking

By:Pamela Renfro

As a little girl I enjoyed writing stories and decorating my stories with pictures I had drawn. I think every child loves to do this. There must be some inward need to tell our stories to each other, to share our experiences through pictures and words. Scrapbooking is the perfect way to combine my love of journaling and my love of photography.

When I write about a first snow being experienced alone, without my family, the sadness of missing out on family sledding times and sitting around the fire with red cheeks devouring snow cream, then it is therapeutic to me. When I can enhance my story by taking photos of the snow scenery then others (friends, family, or later generations) will have a peek into "the real me" which so often doesn't have a chance to be expressed in every day hustle and bustle of life.

I have always expressed my feelings better with a pen and paper than with this tongue-tied mouth of mine. In my scrapbooking I can write of my dreams, my thoughts, my truths, my lessons of life without the fear that what I am "saying" will come across in the wrong way.

I see scrapbooking as a way of showing in a physical format who I am spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. The part of me that will live on eternally with the Lord in heaven is the part of me that is expressed in my journaling and scrapbooking.

I long for depths of friendships with others that go deep enough to tie spirits together in love. The way to do that is to get to really know the other person, asking the hard questions of each other and listening to the thoughts that come back to you. Scrapbooking helps me to draw closer to my friends, because I can share my scrapbook with them and they can read of that part of me, the deeper part...and that is the start of a whole new level of friendship.

It works the other way around as well. I feel as if I really know someone after I have perused her scrapbook, read of her loves and losses, her struggles and victories.

So scrapbooking to me is self-expression, passing on my story to other generations but mostly it is a tool for developing better friendships.

-Pammy Renfro

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: Scrapbooking and Men's Liberation!, by Steven Bland