The Story of Us, Vol. 1

I am thirty four. I still reach for a frilly crocheted photo album with yellowed cellophane on my parent’s couch when I want to see my childhood. I love that befrilled book because of the remembering.

Mom’s high cheekbones, her smile infectious, right next to my dad’s. He’s giving her a piggy back ride. There’s me, two years old and rarely wearing pants. I have a cheeky smile and cut off t-shirt. They loved me. There is the old green carpet, the golden brocade curtains. There are the wrought iron high-backed dining room chairs my belt loops always got caught on. The shaggy cedars behind the house that aren’t there anymore.

Every image pushes play on a memory, an impression, fleeting and golden. These pictures matter. They are not perfectly exposed or even in focus - it was film and you get what you get. But they are happy and good. I want my children to hold onto something so happy and good.

And so the sifting began. Nine years of family photos is what I set myself down to do. It was so good to see them again, to remember. Wasn’t my almost 9 year old just a baby the other day? Wasn’t I just in my old house tidying and planting in the garden? It is amazing how fluid and fast this time business goes.

After curating a 400+ gallery of what was best - what triggered a smile or a story - I laid out every page that would take you through our little life. And then I hit print. And then I got a box. And then we smiled.

And we’re still smiling :)

All three of them pile into a single seat and pour over pictures. Do you remember? Do you remember? Giggles and sighs. It is a happy book. Happy and good.

Book by Artifact Uprising, chosen for their impeccable quality and design. Clothbound in Seamist, 150 pages.

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