Telling Stories....

When I started blogging five years ago, I frequently wrote about my experiences at work.  Or family life. Or something I saw and wanted to comment about.  I used a photo to illustrate the blog and that was it. Ever since I started, I have always hoped that my words would make my readers think and relate what I have said to things in their own lives…

A little more than a year ago, I started scrapbooking again.  Things have changed in the scrapbooking world: it’s not just about photos cut into cute shapes and lots of stickers to decorate the page.  Somewhere along the line, people figured out that pasting photos on a page wasn’t enough.  And cutesy stickers didn’t add much to the story of when, why, and where the photo was taken.

And so, scrapbooking (in whatever form you choose) has become a method of telling our stories about our lives, our families, and our adventures.  Photos are accompanied by “journaling cards” that recount what happened, or was going on, in each photo.  Sure, there are still stickers and other ephemera but they are an adjunct to the story, and a small one at that.

Currently, I am doing Project Life for the second year in a row.  It’s a system of telling our stories in an easy-to-do format, with pockets for photos and other souvenirs of everyday life. Becky Higgins

What I like about Project Life is that it makes me focus on today.  Sure, yesterday and tomorrow were, or will be; important in their own time, but today is what I have right now.  In other words, I live in the moment, recording life’s ups and downs as they happen.  The only thing better than living in the moment is being able to go back and look at those moments later…

My just-completed first page from last week.

And my second page from last week.

I bought in to the project, literally, and purchased a “core kit” from Becky Higgins.  This year, I have been making some of my own journaling cards to add to the core kit.  I want to personalize my story, after all, as I am the only me around…

A few of the journaling cards I have made...

Whether the photos show snow-capped mountains or mountains of laundry in front of the washer, there is a story there.   Not a what-I-did-last-summer story but the story of everyday….. And that is what matters: telling our stories.

 

So, though the format and content of my blog may seem different, it really isn’t.  I am still focused on telling my own story but I am using several modalities and not just writing.  The important thing is that, someday, someone who knew me and loved me will have a better glimpse of who I was and what I did.

That’s telling my story…

Cali