I have always been somewhat of a sentimental person, saving special cards, letters, and pictures from loved ones and dear friends throughout the years. These scraps of memories eventually pile up in a box in my closet and become overwhelming when considering all of the plans I had for arranging them appropriately.
When I got turned on to scrapbooking several years ago, it was all over for me! I wanted to scrapbook my childhood, my college experience, my study abroad experience, every vacation, etc. Of course those ambitions became just as overwhelming as the pile of memories I had in the box in my closet.
I decided to step back and consider what was the most important to record considering my state in life and what I wanted to pass down in the future. One thing that I recognized that children always find of great interest is the story of their origin through the relationship of their parents. Children want to know how their parents met. They want to be drawn into their love story. Ultimately they want to know that their birth is rooted in a strong love of two people who love them deeply.
Inspired by my first pregnancy I began a memory book of how my husband and I met and fell in love. It was so much fun to put together, remembering all of the fun times we shared while we were dating, how we got engaged, planning the wedding, getting married, and our adventurous honeymoon to New Zealand! Making the "Story of Us" was a great way to weed out and compile all of the most important memories of our love story. This was a great gift to myself to be able to go back and reflect on through the years, and also to share with my children as they get older and begin to ask questions of how their parents fell in love.
As a child I cannot tell you how many times my brother and I looked through our baby books, which my parents kept out on a display shelf. It was so much fun to see what we looked like as babies, our first camping trips, a curl from our first haircut. All of these memories we did not have in our own minds due to our age were put into our hearts and we felt loved and connected to a greater story...the story of two people who fell in love.
I have begun the process of putting together books for my children, not only with pictures and fun scraps of memories, but also with small notes about their personalities and little things they have done throughout the years that have melted our hearts and truly made them who they are. One day they can look back and reflect over and over again on how they became who they are and how much they have been deeply loved throughout their formation. There is truly great importance in sharing the memories we treasure with our children before their memories began. They are and forever will be part of our epic journey beginning with a unique love story.
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