Restoration+Healing

ok... so had to play with these little clipping mask frames... hehehe... (mom... i didn't rip this picture, i promise... it's still totally in tact...hehe) i used this picture for the sample when packinging these and figured i might as well make a lo with it for the kids' books. these are my parents (back in the 70's... not sure if you picked up on that by the fly-collars they're both wearing or clearly dated decor in the background... ha!) this just sort of tells their story. the journaling is a book... as mine so often is, but a story that lives on. now, of course... this is the "here's the real quick fairy-tale" version of it... it's my favorite one. ;) But I just love the highlights of their story... it's just... cool. plus... i love being able to say things like "i have a step-mom and a step-dad, but my real parents are married to each other,"... or requesting time off from work at age 23 so "I can go to my parents' wedding". hehe. anyway... Liz... this lo just screamed for your trademark "+"... thanks, girl!!!

JOURNALING: You would never know by looking at Grandma and Grandpa what all they have been through together. Theirs is by far one of my favorite stories throughout my entire generation. I’m certain it’s only because it directly affected me, so I have a lot of emotion concerning the events, but… my favorite nonetheless.

Grandma graduated high school on a Friday and got married to Grandpa on Saturday. They had met just 5 months earlier when Grandpa, upon seeing Grandma for the first time, stood some other girl up and took Grandma out instead. They were married less than a year when they received the news of a baby on the way. Aunt Shannon was born, then I came a year and half later, then a year (and 6 days later) Aunt Kerri came along.

Now, Grandma and Grandpa were young… and they each came with their own expectations of marriage and family. They worked hard to provide for us three girls, as well as keeping their marriage together. However, time and stress had finally taken its toll. After almost 8 years of marriage, they separated and soon divorced. I was 5. Grandma took us girls and we all moved to Florida. She worked nights to support us on her own for a while, but eventually got remarried and we all settled in. Grandpa moved to Mississippi. He got remarried as well. Life, for me, was beginning to get a little confusing.

But this isn’t where the story ends. It doesn’t really even continue here. It actually takes a strange (and almost unheard-of) turn. After only a couple of years or so… Grandma divorces Florida dude, Grandpa divorces that other chic… we all move back to Memphis and Grandma and Grandpa reunite. We move into a house… Shannon, Kerri, and I start school and our family stays together.

Now, keep in mind that there are a whole lot of details that took place in the midst of all of this and looking back on it all, I know it couldn’t have been easy. But they worked at it and they kept our family together. They even [eventually] made it official… they remarried when I was 23. Just this year they celebrated their 35th anniversary… well… give or take a few years.