Photos and Friendship

About four months ago, I decided I needed a night out to scrapbook and spend time with a friend. One of my best friends Amy, (a former housemate) lives in the area but keeps busy with her job and family. So we never got together frequently even though we live in the same town.

This fall I finished up a little scrapbook of Kyri's first six weeks and also finished Ben's baby book. So in the new year, I need to start some new projects. Last night, I went through all my photos and momentoes that are waiting to be put into some order. I found a whole drawer full of letters from my now-husband and a ton of photos from dating, engagement, wedding, and honeymoon. I came downstairs and told him I loved him and about my find. He suggested we should go about destroying them. (I won't let that happen.) I told him that when we die, our children will find them and sit there and weep as they read through them. "Or gag," he said.

Regardless, I now have to decide whether to start scrapbooking the 80s, 90s, or 2000s of my life. I am deciding between the first two right now because if I don't get to them fast, I will forget who those people are and what I was doing. And much of the 2000s are located in digital files and clearly marked with dates and places which will make it much easier.

Amy is very crafty and so she is usually making elaborate scrapbook pages or painting little boxes while I slap my photos down and move on. Sometimes we say very little, sometimes we say a lot. But just being together has been good for the soul. And in the process of accomplishing a much-needed task, much of the loneliness I've felt ever since I moved back west has been alleviated. New friends are wonderful but I have needed to spend time with someone who knew me before I was a mom, or a wife. I don't have to explain what I'm thinking to Amy. She lived with me for a year and a half and she knows how I work. And since she's forgiven me a lot, I can trust with her with my heart.

And of course, all of this is possible because of the man who wrote me all those letters and who has encouraged me to have some time away in the evenings so I can regroup. As the year comes to an end, I'm looking forward to more scrapbooking evenings. And to getting some of this stuff organized.