How I Became "The Memory Keeper"

Although the seed had been planted a few months before, it started in early 2002. I took a weekend trip to New York and decided that while I was there, I would visit Ground Zero. I'm not sure exactly why I wanted to go, but I felt it was something I needed to do while I was there. I came across a vendor selling brag books of photos from the attacks to the clean up as a fundraiser. He was uniformed, so I believed this to be true.

I had absolutely no idea what I would do with this photos. As I contemplated buying them, I thought, one day I will have a child that may be doing a report on this event in history. So, I purchased the photos and continued with my visit. I  have to say when I approached the wall of messages and memorials, I had a very emotional experience. I don't know that I can really put that into words. I came on home with that experience weighing on my heart.

A few weeks later, I was cleaning up my spare bedroom and found (underneath an unfinished project) a laundry basket full of envelopes of photos. There must have 20 or so envelopes! Anyone else out there take photos, get them printed, look through them and then stash them some where? Here they were, precious memories that I had captured, so excited to have them developed, and then toss them aside. I recalled a conversation I had with my friend The Hair Whisperer about scrapbooking. I was adamantly against doing anything crafty because I was not a crafty person. But I thought, I can make a scrapbook to preserve these photos.

A few months later, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I decided I would have to give scrapbooking a try so that I could make a baby book when my daughter was born. So I went on a mission to find out what I could about scrapbooking so that I would be a pro by the time my daughter arrived. Let me just remind you here, that at this point in the story, I still had not started the 9-11 book yet. I walked into Michael's for the FIRST TIME EVER! I was overwhelmed, but I picked up a few kits and decided to scrapbook my entire life up to this point. I became a fanatic! I soon discovered the local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Plaza, which is no more, but it became my second home. I took classes, made friends and developed my skill. I even earned my Bachelor's and Master's in Scrapbooking from Scrapbook Design University!

In 2004, I took my first scrapbooking weekend retreat and finally completed my 9-11 commemorative album. The photos that launched my VERY FIRST HOBBY, my passion, and my business was finally completed 2 years later. 

Are there any other crafters out there? What's your craft and how did you get started?