Family Selfie

Selfie shots are all the rage these days. I'm not personally a fan of the selfie, although i do take them. I just don't post very many. Instead, I keep them for use in my Project Life album and my traveler's notebook. Or sometimes I just use them to torture my son (like when he gives me those goofy faces). ;)

And sometimes the selfies don't turn out all that great, especially when you're trying to do a group shot. 

But they can be fun - and memorable.

This past summer, my family took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland. Sure, we've all been to Disneyland before, but it was always separately. I think we took a family trip to Disneyland about a million years ago, when I was about 8 or 9. I actually don't recall, and we don't have a lot of photos from that trip. But this time, we decided to take my mother, who is now in her 80s and will probably never take the trip again. And I took a LOT of photos, as well as using the Photo Pass feature that we purchased with our trip package. Lots and lots of photos, not all perfect, but definitely memorable. 

One of my favorite photos is a family selfie that I shot with my phone while we were at the end of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride. It wasn't the best photo, but we were all smiling, my mother in particular - caught with a goofy grin and wearing her Mickey Mouse ears. Priceless. I finally scrapbooked that photo this past weekend.

We Are Family by cyranoscrap

CREDITS
Elements, papers: Family Forever (ninigoesdigi)
Template: DSD 2017 Freebie (Designed by Soco)
Font: Typewriterhand

Sometimes, it's just the not-so-perfect photos that capture the perfect moments!

Get the Family Forever collection from ninigoesdigi for 44% off through the end of today, as part of the Oscraps Mini O's sale! This collection also matches kits from other Oscrap designers, so you can mix and match to your liking.

Family Forever courtesy of ninigoesdigi

This Is 6

Last year at the portrait studio, the photographer wanted to try something a little different with my son's 6th year photos. She set him up, standing, facing away from the camera, and put a big number "6" on the floor, then shot the photo. She took two of these - one in color, the other in black and white. 

Although I wasn't sure when she took the photo, I LOVED the results when I saw the prints. However, it took me until THIS year (and this past weekend's crop at a friend's!) to actually scrap the photo. :) 

This is 6 by cyranoscrap

Credits

Paper: My Reflections - Snowhaven (Close To My Heart)

Ink: Cranberry and Glacier (Close to My Heart)

Rub-On Letters: American Crafts
Date Stamp: American Crafts

Pen: Slick Writer (American Crafts)
Photo: Picture People

Although the layout is really simple, it's exactly what I wanted to highlight the photo. And I'm super glad that the photographer changed things up a bit in the studio!

My (Almost) First Love

Last night, I had a very vivid dream. Not necessarily a happy dream, but definitely one that moved me enough to write about it today.

My dream was that someone I cared about very much in the past had died.

See, not a very happy dream.

A lot of the dream is fuzzy, the way that dreams sometimes feel like after you wake up. But I remember going into the memorial/funeral service, where the dark gray coffin (closed) was placed at the front of a crowded chapel. Having been raised Catholic, I performed the sign of the cross as I stood in the center aisle, yards away from the coffin - not wanting to get too close. After this small gesture, I moved to sit in the middle of a pew, waiting for the service to start.

As I sat, waiting, I was not aware of anyone else at the service, just focused on the gray box up front, feeling a numbness and removed from the scene playing out around me. The memorial began, then immediately changed to a darkened room, where a movie was presented to commemorate my friend's life. 

The professionally done movie (one of his brothers dabbled in film making) flashed on the screen with a childhood school photo of my friend grinning and the opening bars of The Beatles song "Hello, Goodbye" as the soundtrack.

Suddenly, I became aware of being squashed against the side of my chair - you know, where someone tries to share your chair, even though there isn't enough room, but you do it anyway because you want to be close to each other. I couldn't see a face due to the darkness, nor could I make out anything but a shape. Then a hand reached for my right hand. The hand was enveloped in a thin blanket, a blanket that covered the shape sharing my chair. I realized it was HIS hand, grasping mine, intertwining our fingers like we used to when we walked along together. A calmness flooded through me, comforting me in my grief. This was his way of telling me he was here, and I relaxed a bit against his presence, knowing he was with me.

I don't recall anything that happened after that. But feeling a person with you so vividly...it almost made me cry in my sleep. I haven't seen him in years - at least 10-12 years since our last encounter. And we've had minimal contact (i.e. email) since then. But one thing we shared when we were together: a sense of everything in the world being where it should be. It was one of the happiest times in my life - and his too, I'm sure. Our lives took different directions, as life does when you are young, so we parted. 

But I've never forgotten the guy who made me feel so alive, so right, so comforted. He wasn't my first love, but he definitely was the first guy that I ever considered spending the rest of my life with. And for that, he will always hold a special part of my heart.

Earlier this year, I captured a memory of this special person in a scrapbook layout:

Missing You Forever by cyranoscrap
Credits: Created with Forever Missed by ninigoesdigi

While I don't know if our paths will ever cross again, I still want to keep some of the memories that we shared, especially as time passes and my memory starts to fade.

And THAT is why I scrapbook.