Digital Scrapping--Why Do I Do It?

Why do I scrap?

This is maybe even a more interesting question for the childless person than for the parent. And I’ve actually heard someone say that she didn’t have any use for scrapbooking because she didn’t have kids. EXCUSE ME? So according to that logic, if you have no children, you have no life, or at least no life worth recording. Give me a break! Actually, once I got over my irritation at that remark, it made me feel a little sorry for that woman; clearly she feels that her life isn’t going to have been worth remembering after she’s gone—that seems unspeakably sad.

Because you see, I don’t feel that way at all. I don’t feel that a person has to have children to have goals, a purpose in life, fun, memorable experiences, and most of all, joy. I DO feel that you have to have important other people in your life, because what IS life without others to share it with? And I do have that—my husband (aka “the Chief” or “Mr. Y”); my chocolate lab, Cocoa (see below: “Chocolate Shadow”); my twin brother, with whom even now I share a secret language; a pack of nieces and nephews who are the beneficiaries of my goal of being the Aunt of Their Dreams; my best friend and her family (her children call us Aunt and Uncle, too); and so many friends I can’t count them all. It’s a full and rewarding and uproarious and joyous life. How could I not want to record that?

I suppose I most especially do it for my nieces and nephews, who live far away from me. We stay in pretty close contact through phone calls and email and occasional visits, but I want them to know the day-to-day stuff of my life, too. They’re all pretty special to me.

But there’s a selfish motive in my scrapping as well. Quite plainly, I just enjoy the work of putting together pictures and papers and little bits of other things—I love the work of collage, whether it’s actual or virtual, paper or digital.

And I really love it when I produce a nice combination of writing and images. My head is always full of language, language that’s aware of itself and usually in search of an outlet, and journaling is the answer. Journaling here in my blog, privately for my own files, or as part of a digital layout with photos and digital papers and clips and beads and tags and word art and . . . whatever else seems cool at the moment. I simply LOVE this work. And if what comes out of it seems worth sharing, so much the better, but if not, I think I’d do it just the same.