What scrapbooking means to me

 I have recently read via blogs, Twitter and even Instagram how some of my long time scrapbookers are moving away from the craft. Some are finding other methods of documenting their life while others are noticing that they are just not "into it" anymore. There is also a trend to not call yourself a scrapbooker too which I must of missed the memo on why that was, but I digress.
I was sad when I read about people "quitting scrapbooking". I admit it. Some had been people that I have loved and some that I had been so inspired by. Then I began to look at what led me to the scrapbooking world to begin with.
I had been looking at some of my family albums and found some pictures from my dad. He looked like he was about 20 years old and he was dressed up in a suit striking quite the pose. The photo had to have a story, but what was it. I asked my mother about it. She had no idea where or even when the photo was taken. My father had passed away in 1990 so I couldn't ask him about it. I was sad. I wanted to know the story so badly. I also wanted to know what he was like back then. What was his dreams, his fears or even his favorite foods.
I decided that day that I wanted to keep  a journal with some photos in it so I drove to AC Moore that day and had no idea what I was about to walk into. When I looked at the albums I discovered the world of scrapbooking (circa 2002). I stumbled upon the magazine Creating Keepsakes and it was a life changing moment.
Over the years, I have gone through many changes. I have changed jobs, changed boyfriends, graduated from college (twice), got engaged, got married, went on several vacations, had a baby and became a stay at home mom. What has always remained the same is that I am a scrapbooker. It is my passion and so much a part of who I am.

 

This year I started out documenting each week, but toward the end I was doing mostly monthly layouts. I also completed a few just for fun layouts in between which really brought me back to what made me love the memory keeping world to begin with.

I keep the memories because I don't want to forget them. I have noticed that sometimes I tend to forgot things. My memory is not as sharp anymore (blame it on pregnant brain from 1.5 years ago). I don't want to forget how little my little girl was or how happy she was when she first when on a swing and felt the wind in her hair. 

We all have different methods of recording our lives. We all have many reasons for it doing it and thats ok.