Memories ~ What's Important?

A friend started a discussion the other day with a group that I belong to about how you view the "importance" or scrapbooking.  She asked if we thought it was important.  Now FYI, the people in this group have all been scrappers (and quite zealous ones), but quite a few have since given it up. Some in the group scrapped for fun and the creative challenge, some for the thrill of the contest or the extra income from publication, some for the memory preservation. 

It's been a very interesting discussion that made me think.  I have never claimed that I scrap because I find it important.  I do it because I enjoy it and I think I'm pretty good at it.  I love the color and the design challenge (can you tell I am a former high school yearbook editor?).  I do, however, think it's important that we document important things about the people in our lives in some manner.  Here's my take on it.....

People matter, not scrapbooks. I'm sad that I have a box of stunning heritage photos and don't know who 3/4 of these people, most likely relatives, are. I would like to know who they are and how they ended up in a box in my closet.

My great grandmother was a killer cook. My grandma was NOT, and never cared, so a lot of those recipes have died because my grandma didn't think that any of great grandma Suzies recipes were worth much. My mom and I have tried to resurrect some of them with some success, but it's not the same.

Before my grandpa died, we got him to sit down at the table and open up a bit about what it was like to serve in the South Pacific in WW2. I'll never forget that evening. He told andy and I that he didn't think anybody cared, and we cared a LOT! He showed us his "yearbook" that one caring fellow soldier compiled when they returned stateside, and he remembered everything about everybody in that book!  It hurt to hear that he didn't think anybody cared.  I'm so glad that that young soldier cared, and cared a LOT.  

I can't trace my roots back past my great grandparents because my grandparents' generation didn't care, or were not willing to save those details.

I have NO photos of my husband as a kid, NONE. Well, I do have his junior year school photo, which he wishes I didn't have.  You know the ones....bad hair, bad glasses. 

I don't think that scrapbooking is important, but some details would be nice, like who people are, who was married to whom and when, when people emigrated and from where, etc. I wish that we had more of these details.

It's not events that define who people are.  I do NOT think that scrapping everybody's yearly birthday or all the holidays is important whatsoever, but somehow documenting the facts about people somehow.  To me, not losing the essence of who people are is important to record in some manner.  I also feel more of a need to document the older generations, rather than our children, because they're gone before you know it and once they're gone, you can never get their stories back.  I know I'd rather learn more about my great grandparents than learn more about my third birthday party.  I remember being a kid.

If you're a scrapbooker, why do you do it?  And if you're not a scrapbooker, do you document the people in your life in some way?  Do you think it's important?  Why or why not?

Here's a layout that I recently did of some photos of my grandpa when he was serving in the South Pacific.

Comments

[Victoria]

This post is fantastic! I hope people are spurred on to ask the questions of our older generations before they pass on! You layouts are such an inspiration, too! My mother often bemoans the fact that she doesn't have the exact recipe for Divinity Fudge from my great grandmother. In our view it was the best consistency ever created and she can't replicate the results.

Btw, I was an assistant yearbook editor and loved putting it all together. I even got to put a slideshow together 2 years in a row. Fun memories! :)

[Jana]

Wonderful layouts, Barb. I'm glad you took the time to do them.

[Carla]

I scrap for lots of reasons. Most recently, I've needed the creative outlet, though I get that from the 3D/photo-less projects as well. I also want to preserve the memories for my kids, since they love to look back at the pages and see what they did. But the more I scrap, the more I find myself doing the moments pages more than the events pages. I want them to know that I NOTICED. That I loved them enough to watch them learn and grow and that I appreciated each of those everyday moments they probably won't remember. I need to do a better job of recording my parent's and grandmother's memories, though. Thanks for the reminder.
Oh, Former Yearbook Editors rock! ;)

[Heather]

I've been thinking alot about this lately. With time becoming less and less available to me, I really want to scrap what I think is most important. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon :)

[chantillylace]

Gorgeous layouts. Thans for visiting my blog.

[DawnMarch]

I think that preserving memories is important (in part because I have a terrible memory and so much of my own past is so hazy!). Which is not to say that all my layouts are "important". I'm sure my kids will someday wonder if they need a layout for every time we went to the same park and did the same things! Like you, a lot of it is for ME -- the creative outlet and challenge of creating something beautiful and unique.

[Elaine]

Great layouts and I enjoy reading your blog. I tried your Spinach and Shrimp recipe, wow it was delicious, thanks

[April]

I loved reading this post today. GREAT topic and great insight!

[Eve]

Those are gorgeous LO Barb!! I wish I had more old photos to scrap!

[Jane/Wags]

I scrap to preserve memories. I didn't start having kids until I was almost 40, and I have a fear that my time will come before my kids are adults and I want them to know all about their young lives. I am also working on some heritage scrapping so that they will know about their mom and dad and the rest of their family history.

I could do it without all the extra fancy stuff, but I do the "pretty stuff" for me.

[Andrea]

Wonderful layout!

I scrap for two reasons, mainly. First, I need to remember those moments. Not necessarily events, but moments. And second, it's a creative outlet for me.

I've been awful about personal scrapping lately - lately everything I've done has been for my business or a magazine or something other than for myself. But I'm taking a new path, my life is heading in a new direction now and I'll be closing my business soon, which is a really hard decision. But I'm hoping that I'll be able to spend more time with my family and with documenting my own family's memories. I do not want to leave this earth and have my kids wondering what their childhood was all about.

[Jan C.]

I blogged about this once, as well. And I think what I said at the time was that I consider my scrapbook layouts to be love letters to the people I am scrapping about. Also, to me the layouts are my way of letting my loved ones know that I see them and think about them. They say, “Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed, because I will be your witness.” (That's from "Shall We Dance," btw.)

Kids often don't really understand scrapbooking (or blogging). They protest that they don't want their lives documented and preserved. But I continue to do it. Because someday when I'm gone, those same protesting kids are going to look at the layouts and see the moments of their lives from my perspective. And if it hasn't sunk in in any other way, I hope they will then know how beautiful and special they are to me.

[Catherine]

Very interesting thread Barb and funny how I had the same discussion with my kids yesterday! They don't really believe in scrapbooking to preserve memories and think that album photos with dates and infos will be more interesting to look at in a few years time! unless we print our LOs into books! I scrapbook more for my enjoyment than anything else although i think heritage Los like the gorgeous ones you are showing, help preserve some old photos and some old memories! But once again the most important is to print them and not keep them only in our computers! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and these beautiful pages! :)

[Heather]

I love those layouts Barb! I scrap to preserve even the littlest memories of my kids. They don't have to be the huge ones. In fact, it's hard to forget the Christmases and Birthdays. It's the first big owie that I wanted to scrap. It's the pictures of Jordan on his scooter, things that I don't want to forget. So I scrap all the moments. I want them to know everything.