30 in 30 Scrapbooking - Number 27

Moment Captured

(Supplies: Camera patterned paper, unknown manufacturer, a garage sale find. Letter stickers by Crate Paper and Basic Grey. Ink by Tim Holtz Distress. Trinket pins by Making Memories. Fabric brad by Crate Paper. Stamps by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, Close to My Heart, and Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday. Bakers twine by My Mind's Eye. Red buttons by Dritz. All other supplies by October Afternoon.)

Every once in a awhile, I create a layout that I just love, one that goes into the box of favorites in my mind.

This is one of those layouts.

It's more than its title conveys. It's more than one moment captured. This layout illustrates one of the reasons I keep doing what I do with paper and photos and words.

Some of my readers know that my little Mommy came to live with me and my husband over a year ago. She suffers from memory loss, and some days, it is simply heartbreaking. When I began to plan the layout above, I sat down with her, showed her the photo, and asked her about it.

She couldn't recall any of the details. The good news is, she does still recognize that it's her. She just can't remember anything else about it.

I was a bit disappointed, but that experience gave me a springboard to make this layout about the number one, most important reason I make scrapbook pages: to preserve memories. I don't know if I'll have memory loss some day. My father didn't, not in any significant way, so I don't know if I'm going to be genetically doomed to the same affliction my mother endures.

If I am, if I am 79 years old, and there's a picture of me holding a camera or doing some other normal everyday thing or some rare and wonderful thing, I won't have to rely on my memory. There's a good chance the photo will be attached to a page full of pretty paper and adorable embellishments, and there will be words for me to read so that pieces of my own story don't get lost to time.