Why Scrapbooking Is Important To Me

By:Tracy Beard

There have been two things I have always loved in life: writing, and photography. I credit both of these loves to my maternal grandmother. Since I was a little girl, she has been writing her autobiography on her old, manual typewriter.

I received my first camera for Christmas when I was eight years old. I loved it when my Grandmother would take her old 8mm movie camera and take movies of family functions. When we look at them now, we all have a good laugh as we enjoy them. So, I was just thrilled to be able to photograph my world! The hobby became more serious, when I found an old 35mm camera in the closet when I was fifteen. My parents replaced that camera with a more modern one for my sixteenth birthday. I still use that camera today!

But my paternal grandmother taught me something too. "Mom" as we all called her, taught us the value of family history through stories.

I met and married the love of my life, Doug, when I was eighteen. A year later, we had our beautiful daughter, Sherri, and twenty-two months later, our second beautiful daughter, Ashley was born.

I had always wanted to write that best selling novel, and I always had a camera in hand, but with a husband, and two small children, there wasen't always time!

Within a year, two things happened that changed my life. My grandmother "Mom" died, and I found out that I had Crohn's Disease, an incurable inflammatory bowel disease. Both of these events made me realize that I am not going to live forever! When Mom died, I realized that all the family stories that we did not "memorize" were lost and gone forever. And, that meant that that much family history was lost. I wanted to find a way to preserve it all. And I found that outlet through scrapbooking!

So, I may not write that best seller, but I have preserved my photographs, and all the precious memories and family stories in hopes that future generations will remember who they are, and the rich family heritage that they share! One of the most personally rewarding things in my life is to hear someone compliment me on a page, or to share my love of scrapbooking with others, who pick up on the hobby and preserve their family history!

Thanks, dMarie, for having such a wonderful site to inspire me on all aspects of my scrapbooking hobby!

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: dmarie rocks!, by T Schapiro