I make things harder for myself with a quick decision that later comes back to bite me in the tush. Sweet Girl suggested 2 weeks ago that I put together a little scrapbook for Mr. B’s birthday with some important moments to remember. I think we envisioned it to be a cute 20 page book, one photo on each page, each a momentous event. One wedding picture, one honeymoon picture, one 40th birthday photo… you get the idea.
What I have just completed is nothing like that original vision, having buried myself in photo archives for days. I am emerging from the land of Photoshop and squinting at the computer screen for so long I get dizzy with a 64-page, 8×10 comprehensive album. Comprehensive being the key word here. I covered all 17 years of our life together in this keepsake, and I’m very proud of it.
Why do I do this??? My muscles hurt. I’m super tired. I was in some sort of time warp where I’d sit down to the computer and all of a sudden 7 hours had passed.
Originally my motivation was to allow Mr. B the occasion to reminisce. On birthdays especially, he loves to talk about where we were x number of years ago. I could see how happy he’d be looking through the book, remembering our first trip together, our engagement party, our wedding, our daughter being born, all the way up to her 7th birthday party just last week. Lots of these occasions were pre-digital photos, so I sifted through boxes of photos and scanned them in.
Then I thought this book would be great for both of us when we can’t remember what year we did something. We could have a record of every experience in one place!
And of course, for Sweet Girl to see how we met, dated, married, and how she has evolved… that’d be super cool. Sometimes I tell her we’ve done something before and she doesn’t remember, so this will be way easier to reference than each annual scrapbook I’ve made of her.
So the book got more detailed. The first few pages have about 5 or 6 photos on each. The last 50 pages ended up with maybe 70 photos on each page, overlapping and tilted and looking like the full life we lead now.
If I had to make this book for someone else, I would charge $1400. It is that huge of a task. Of course, who would pay that and really, I’d most likely decline the project because the joy of it was in reviewing each memory and smiling to myself all the while.
I did get sick of the project halfway through because it took a huge chunk of time. Now that it’s done, I have ordered it and can hardly wait to see it, wrap it, and watch Mr. B and Sweet Girl look through it and remember all the fun we’ve had and all we have been through together.
I use Blurb’s program to create and order books. Here’s a coupon good through Thursday if you want to make one for the holidays.
