Journaling Prompt- Finding the silver lining

As I have mentioned, there has been a lot of fun in our house lately, and not the good kind.  I snapped pics of things this weekend, and I haven't printed them yet, but they tell a sweet story, and I thought I'd share. My husband has spent the last several days rebuilding the engine in his car.  This picture shows the dash torn down to the firewall so he can put in the new heating core. Here he is working on the wiring under the dash.  Isn't he lucky to have a wonderful wife who will capture him working? It's totally the same thing if I am documenting progress and he is making progress, yes?

Honestly, I feel so grateful that he knows how to repair this, since he has been a tech forever, which is since they had those Flintsontes cars. A joke in our house is that he sits on his laurels because his Mom made a passing comment that suggested that all he does is sit about the house. For the past five days, he has either worked on the car all day, or gone to work and then worked into the night. I really am grateful that he has put so much into keeping things running well for us. He is definitely not sitting on his laurels, although I am pretty sure he would give anything to be able to lately!

It hasn't been all bad, the neighborhood peacock stopped by at 6:30 am on Saturday to say hi, so my oldest got to see him, which she liked. She did try to tell her little sister it was a dog, which didn't fly with Budgie.  Smart girl that one. 




Its been nice out, so the girls have been playing outside constantly. The oldest is riding her bike, and the youngest is either playing on the rocks in the driveway, or rolling down the hill.

How are things going for you? Rough? Good? What's your silver lining?
~Venetia

Why I scrapbook

Hobbies are intensely personal. I scrapbook. Early on, when I started, my Mother shared a scrapbook my great-grandfather gave to her that he created. Looking through the album, and reading the three page letter inside was one of the most powerful moments I have experienced.

"This album has been prepared to show you a part of your Dad's life of which he has no remembrance" The hand-typed opening line of the letter is a simple, yet powerful beginning. In the album, he documented the meeting, courtship, and marriage of him and my Great-Grandmother, Bessie. He detailed their meeting, and their five year courtship through letters, the holiday that lead to their engagement and their marriage. There are documents including their marriage license, her report card from college, her librarian's certificate, and a handwritten letter of recommendation from one of her former employers. The pictures are small, and he developed and printed them himself, using the brake light of his car.

From the album, I learn that she was modern 1920's woman, with a short bob, a university degree, and worked as a school and children's librarian. Reading his letter, I learned that he was an incredibly pragmatic man, who loved my great-grandmother dearly. I also read the heart wrenching story of her death in my Grandfather's early childhood. She suffered from diabetes, and in the 1920's insulin treatment was worse than the disease, and eventually, he lost her to the illness.

I hold a piece of my family history that would have been lost to time, an understanding that can only come from a personal narrative, and a story that was intensely honest. The most important part for me is understanding who they were, not in the best moments, but in all moments.

The reality is that the story is the powerful part of the album. The photos, without the captions and the letter, would hold no meaning today. I try to remember that. I try to document the good with the bad, and capture the true essence of who we are as a family.