by Tamara Passey
I tried to scrapbook for a while. I really did. I wasn't terrible at it. I could put together a page and the pictures looked pretty good. But I admit, rather nervously, that I didn't like it as much as thought I would. Or at least as much as some other friends did. So I've resorted to putting pictures in albums with protective covers and think that maybe one day either of my daughters might like to scrapbook - wouldn't that be nice? However, I still like to capture moments and record them if I can. I just have a writer's brain and not a photographer's brain. So my snapshots are poems. Fragments of moments I don't want to forget. Like the one I'm including at the end of this post. It may not mean much to anyone else, but at least I can show my daughter I was paying attention along the way. Are any of you good journalers? Scrapbookers? How much do you document of your children's lives?
Storm Watchers
We sat on the lattice-back patio chair
You and I
To watch a storm
Because in the desert, rain is a spectator sport
Water spattered on the rocks
Tapping rhythms
You sang the alphabet song
Somewhere around H-I-J-K
The thunder clapped directly above our heads
Like you had the fast-moving gray clouds for an audience
Your eyebrows snapped up like rubber bands
“What was that?” Your shock sent up a hand to cover your mouth.
"Thunder.” I explained.
You still scanned the yard and the soggy grass
Looking for a culprit
A gust of wind pushed the rain horizontal
And I knew our moment on the edge of the storm was over.
You clung to me with your four-year-old arms and legs as we scrambled inside.
We stood behind the glass door,
Watched our dusty patio chair get drenched
And laughed.
I can picture this scene with fondness. I love thunder storms, like the one that woke my whole family up the other morning. I like them, my children do not!
ReplyDeleteI've done some scrap booking. I plan to get back to it one day. "For everything there is a season..." I'm an okay journal keeper. I have one for each child, and write them letters. Mostly, I count on my family blog to document our lives.
Great poem!
What a great idea to have a journal for each child & write them letters. Thanks for sharing that!
ReplyDeleteI love your poem...so sweet. Your children may not have fancy scrapbooks from you but they'll have the photos and your beautiful words!!!
ReplyDeleteTamara, that poem is beautiful. I could see the whole thing. I particularly like the clouds being your daughter's audience as she sang. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteWhen each of my children turned 16, I gave them a collage of photos of important events from their childhood and wrote a poem entitled Matriarchal Blessing expressing my feelings about their lives so far and my hopes for their future. My oldest daughter keeps a copy of hers with her scriptures. Our tradition grew out of a time when they were young and sometimes, when I didn't get to talk to them about their day before they went to bed, we'd leave notes on each others' pillows - expressions of love or concern, apologies, recognition of difficult times we were going through, or maybe positive words of needed encouragement. I kept many of these precious notes and reviewing them now that my children are adults is a very tender experience.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a nice rain storm and could see you and your daughter exerience the thunder and rain. I like your idea of your poems as snapshots of life.
ReplyDeleteI keep a family blog and I do those printed up photo books. They seemed expensive until I compared the cost of scrapbooking.
ReplyDeleteLove the poems you share.
Thanks!
Love your post.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is beautiful!
I enjoy scrapbooking...but I am not very good at it. I decided it is an evil plot to get me to spend money I don't have and use time I don't have, etc. I do keep and journal and take pictures...sigh...which I used to stay on top of until I tried to scrap book and got so far behind, I may never catch up. I probably have 1500 or more pictures on cd's now waiting for me to get printed.
I decided to use online scrapbooks from now on and just print them in books.