Country Life = My mama's scrapbooks

We girls today think we're so hip and modern. We're all about scrapbooking, and spend small fortunes on all the latest papers and embellishments.

I have discovered I'm much better at buying the supplies than actually using them. But boy oh boy, when I really get down to it, I'll be ready!

How cool and retro are these?

They were lovingly made by my mom when she was young.

In the corner of one is the date it was given to her by a friend - 1937.

Mom would have been 12 years old.

Another was given to her by her sister.

The year is missing - that corner fell off at some point.

But I know it was birthday gift,

because it was dated April 3.

She filled them with things she loved.

Flowers. Dogs. Cats.

Jesus. Nature. Inspirational quotes.

Funny cartoons and jokes.

The pages are fragile, but the images are still bright.

I'd guess she mostly worked on these as a teenage girl...

and also as a young woman who was missing her fellow

while he was away serving his country.

As you can see, she had collected many more tidbits to scrapbook,

but never got them done.

They may have had something to do with the fact that in 1955, a baby came along.

Just glancing through the loose papers, I noticed magazine dates from 1951 & 1954.

But caring for my sister would have taken precedence over scrapping.

This scrapbook I remember well.

She bought it for me when I was little.

And the tradition continued.

Or at least she encouraged it to continue. But this book never got finished, and I must have lost interest. I do remember getting it out from time to time though, and chuckling over the cartoons we had picked out together that we thought were worthy of saving.

My creative streak came from her, and I'm thankful for that.

It occurs to me now that I should have got her scrapbooks out when she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. During that time when she was forgetting the current events, these scraps from her past may have reached her. Even if she didn't remember them, she would have enjoyed them again, because even as the disease was taking over, all those things she had loved before still made her happy.

What a special woman she was! My sister and I were so blessed to have her for our mom!