>LUCKY 7 CONTEST< "Story Telling"

This layout is close to my ((heart)) and was *very* difficult for me to do. As you will see, my Dad was recently diagnosed with Alzhiemers. Hopefully this page will tell the story. The photo under the word 'Remember' is his family from the village in Poland he came from in front of his old synagogue, the little picture is me & my Mom from 1964, the writing under the clock is his printing from the manuscript of the book. I just wish it scanned better- it looks so much better in real life :>)
TFL,xox Laura--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The journaling reads:
At seventy-six years old, my father is a vibrant man with a loud laugh and a lifetime of memories. Last year, we noticed that simple things were becoming increasingly difficult for him to recollect and process. After intense testing, the physicians concluded that he was suffering from the first stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. The doctor’s gave no timetable as to how quickly he could digress. The doctors explained to me it could be a year or ten years- there was simply no data to determine when all of his memories would be lost.

What hit me hardest was that all of my father’s joy and sorrow from a lifetime which I shared with him would be GONE. All of the stories he had told (and re-told) over the last 45 years of my life would be taken away by the ravages of Alzheimer’s- and we didn’t know when.

Being the incredible spirit that my dad is, he decided not to let this whole ‘Alzheimer Thing’ get him down. While away in Mexico for six months, he wrote a BOOK about his life. If it never gets published, he says he is fine with that as long as he can share all of his ‘stories’ with his grandchildren. For him it’s all about remembering while he can.

Inspired by my father’s mission to get all his memories on paper, it occurred to me that since I started scrapbooking I rarely journal on my layouts. Some of it was that I didn’t like my own handwriting or that I wanted to focus on the aesthetic appearance of the page and journaling would possibly distract from the ‘look’ of the page. Mostly my lack of journaling was because I made a mistake.

I made the mistake of assuming I would always be able to sit down with my friends and family and explain what the picture in the layout meant. The reality is that Alzheimer’s takes away ones ability to remember even simple details. I no longer have the luxury of assuming I will be able to explain it all. So now I am passionate about telling ‘the story’ through journaling. Now, scrapbooking is all about preserving the memories- while I can.