The eternal scrapbook
Several years ago in California
my wife and I drove past a store called Scrapbook World. We had quite a laugh
over that one. Who in their right mind, would open a business selling scrapbook
supplies? Surely they’d be out of business in a year, right? Well, the joke was
on us, because more and more people have been feverishly mounting their
memories into scrapbooks, and buying boatloads of supplies in the process.
That memory has me thinking about, well, memories. My family’s memories, that is, and how to preserve them. I
have no interest in the modern version of the quilting bee — the scrapbook
party — but I do want to be organized, to be sure that photos and video and
all that ephemera I throw in drawers will be accessible to our kids down the
road.
It’s a daunting task, especially when what you really want
to do is relive the good old days,
and not necessarily chronicle them. I like to keep myself in the here and now,
thinking about the future more than what was, but I’m finding great value, and
even fun, in preserving the past.
Today’s stuff is tomorrow’s old stuff, so if you’ve ever
wished your parents and grandparents had been more organized, more prolific
with a camera, or had access to today’s technology during yesteryear, give some
serious thought to what you’re doing now. But really, you can always organize
later. Commit those images to film or bytes, and squirrel them away if you
can’t get out to Scrapbook World just yet. Better to have that ephemera than
not. Just don’t forget to first enjoy these moments in real time.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2006.
