The other night I had a dream that I needed to save my scrapbooks from a fire. I walked into a room on fire to get them off the shelves and get them out of danger.
Now, I don’t think that I would really do that. I really don’t feel that risk-my-life-attached to my scrapbooks (now my camera on the other hand…oh! and my children…). But I thought the dream was interesting and it made me think about the role that scrapbooking plays for me.
I think by saving my scrapbooks I was saving my story and my voice. It felt like I was claiming those as important. And I do use scrapbooking a lot to record my story and express my voice. Not always. Sometimes I just want to be light and silly. But there have been some pages that have really hit a cord with me. I think about the pages I’ve done where I’ve recorded a hard period we’ve been through with the boys. Challenges we’ve overcome, or lessons we’ve learned, or questions we have. And doing that work…recording it, voicing it, claiming it, has been so good for me. And I think, in the end, the process of sitting to face something challenging…with adorable and fun scrapbooking supplies and cute photos of silly boys…has meant more than the product that comes out of it. The doing has been so good.
As for this one? Silly and fun was on tap and I embraced it. And when Andrew saw it when he got home from school, he wanted to take a good look and talk all about it. Backyard nerf battles with your cousins? DEFINITELY something to be remembered!
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you’re not alone! in my paranoid moments, i’ve often thought about what i would grab and run with, and clunky, heavy photo albums always pop up in my head! not realistic — and they didn’t even get the same kind of investment and therapy that your scrapbook pages have! but that history and story-telling feel so important…
i hope andrew and isaac get some more of that wonderful cousin play time sooner than later!
Having been a target of a 9 year old wielding a nerf gun at Christmas I can imagine the fun he had! Isn’t it strange what dreams we have sometimes, but you have definitely raised a question here! All the more reason to upload our work to the internet where a version of it is safe.
I am so impressed by your ability to analyze your dream!! You were spot on!! However you should have your pages backed up on your computer!! and saved by a service like Carbonite. Love the picture of the two younger cousins w/ their hands up!