Real Life Scrapbooking

The Layout That Took Three and a Half Years to Complete

This post is about real life. It is a kind of a sad, rambling, soul-searching post. I decided to post it because maybe other people also struggle with scrapbooking their 'real lives'.

 It is easy to scrapbook events.  There are papers, stickers and all kinds of amazing embellishments designed for special, happy events in our lives.  Manufacturers of scrapbooking supplies know that we want to remember those beautiful days with the panache that they deserve.  But what about the "real life" days?  The ones with bumps, bruises and tears?  With children facing chronic illness, the days of special occasions are joy-filled, but so are the days where you can simply say, "She had a good day today."  Meaning, she got some rest or wasn't feeling as sick as she had been.

I am not trying to be Debbie Downer here, I am trying to explain... mainly to myself.... why it took me over three years to scrapbook photos that have been printed and stored with the papers that I had selected so long ago.  It seemed awkward to want to honor this memory as much as the happy-go-lucky ones.  But there those pictures sat on my desk.  Getting moved from pile to pile, from storage box, back to desk.  Until finally I had to face my own qualms about calling attention to what was a huge part of our lives, but one I hadn't had the strength to address.  Ongoing illness.  Doctors saying she will always be sick. She'll have "good days" but she will always need to be medicated.  She'll need to stay indoors. And the list goes on.

Does this make me a bad mother because I could not bring myself to do a layout that calls attention to the fact that my child was sick for months at a time?  Please know it was only because it made me sad to know that I could not make her better.

The Hidden Journaling Tag

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I promise the next post will be my regular, happy missive.  :-)
And, as an additional bit of happy news, my dd2 is actually relatively healthy now and has far more 'good days' then bad.  She can be outside (most days) now and acts and looks like a 'normal' seven year old.

Hugs,
Beverly