January 2 - Why I Scrap

Here's my page, the journaling and credits are in the gallery. Word count = 252.

 

284 words.

 

Word Count is 294

 

269 Words

 

Word Count: 566

 

journaling: 363 words
I started scrapbooking more than13 years ago. When I started scrapbooking, I was pregnant with Dominick and I wanted to make sure that his baby moments were captured. Here’s the thing, I have lots of stories of Dominick’s baby-hood and of Ghabriel’s baby-hood. What I didn’t record: dates of first steps and what first words were or when first teeth came in.

However, what I do have is I have stories of how I felt at being a new mom and about Dominick’s favorite toys and what it was like before Ghabe was born when we’d spend Saturdays just the two of us. I have stories of how I felt at getting the positive when I got pregnant with Ghabe and I have stories about how I felt at Ghabe's diagnosis. I have stories of being in the hospital and of being at home. I have pages about just random things that I may have forgotten about had I not scrapbooked them like when Dominick used to say "Ghabriel's goo". I have lots of fun pages of the kids and our family. I have pages for vacations and trips to the lake and our family camping trips. I have pages capturing the boys’ first times catching fish and first days of school. I have all of these stories told with pretty stuff and pictures.

But, why do I scrapbook? It’s to remember those times and it's to play with pretty papers and embellishments and to do something creative. It's to have me time and to be part of this community. But it’s also because I listen. I listen to Ali Edwards and rukristin. I listen when I’m told that this is my story and I’m the only one who can tell that story. I listen and I believe it to be true that I deserve to tell my stories. I am the main character in my story with everyone being supporting characters. I love telling the stories of my family from my point of view. I love telling how I feel about my kids and my husband and anything else I want to talk about. This is for me. This is my story.

 

It took a good while to gather all these photos, but I actually really like the result! Thanks for this challenge
Word count: 333 words.

 

Thank you for the challenge! Here's mine (word count 260):

 

Word Count 361

 

Journaling is in the gallery:

 

This was a hard challenge - my style of memory keeping does not include this much journaling much less journaling about me.

 

journaling, 409 words:
Life is stories and stories are life.

They are intertwined on this path we travel through the years. Because, really, what is living without having something to say?

We can go through our days simply existing - and most certainly there are times i choose to do exactly just that - or we can engage our senses throughout the day, taking in all the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions the day’s events bring.

This is often the much harder approach to take as it requires being present and trusting in the here and now, but man it can really be such a rewarding experience. And those rewarding experiences - good and bad rewards! - are what make life worth living.

And a life worth living is a life worth telling….through words, photos, paintings, documents, recordings, journals, instant messages, social media timelines, and scrapbooking. Detailing the ups and downs of life, highlighting the milestones and the everyday, recording the challenges and triumphs, sharing our strengths and weaknesses, acknowledging that our unique perspective matters, and preserving all of the feelings of living our story makes life a vivid, rich, and oh so meaningful experience. And that is precisely what I want my life to be - meaningful. Feeling emotionally, physically, and creatively fulfilled. Learning from life’s lessons and sharing that experience in hopes that it may help someone else on their life journey.

These days, especially, I find myself often mentally checking out and just going through the motions. I then easily forget the details, the conversations, the nuances, and the moments that make live worth living. Refocusing on the present moment can take effort. Sharing this life with other’s and allowing myself to be vulnerable is a challenge. But when it I allow myself to be open, I am aware of how amazing it is to have that connection with others. Connecting to the past, connecting to the big feels, connecting to the lessons learned from the obstacles, and heartaches, and failures, connecting to the humanity of living and telling all of those stories - well, what a freaking amazing gift.

And that is why I document all the things, why I photograph my world and my life, why I share my thoughts and feelings on this journey through life. The path has twists and turns peaks and valleys and so many stories of life’s experiences. And this is why I scrapbook…because our lives and these stories we live matter.

 

(459 words)

 

255 Word Count

 

Word Count: 276

 

Word Count: 256

 

Journaling word count 257 (for the full 3 paragraphs)

 

Here's mine:


It's dark, but I am feeling dark sometimes these days... Thanks for this challenge! It caused me to get out of my own thoughts and into a different focus!

Huggles!!
~Sarah~

 

273 words!