What Has This Done to My Life???

My life has changed so much in the last year and a half! I can't believe it. What did I do with all the time that is now filled with my deepest passion of scrapbooking? Who did I ever converse with before I got all my scrapper friends? I guess even a bigger question...what did I spend all my darling husband's money on before I was known at the local scrapbook stores by my first name???

I have done many many crafts and hobbies before in my life of sixty-one years but have never been so consumed as I have by this thing that has become so much a part of my life that I can't look at anything without it having a connection to this consuming hobby...or art...or whatever we choose to call it!

When I see colors...I think about what a neat color combination that would make on a page layout...when I see people doing things I think oh my golly that would scrap so cute!...when I look at magazines and books and ads...I think about the way pages are laid out and think wow that would nice to use on a layout or on a card! What oh what has happened? I don't know but I do think it is a good thing.

The older I get the more I am aware of the fact that everyone...young and old...needs to have something special in their lives that drives them. Drives them beyond the norm of their everyday requirements that pull on their lives. We all have things we must do in out lives to just survive. We have jobs, we have family, we have responsibilities of cleaning the house and keeping the yard up. It can never be denied that any of these are not a driving force in your life. And these are forces that still...at least most times...gives us much pleasure...even though all of us complain and complain about the burdens they put on us. Still we would not want to give them up for anything. They really are a very important need in our lives...and we do love them.

But I am talking about the something in our lives that is always in the back of our minds...something that propels us through all the mundane things we are forced to face day after day...something that makes us know, that as soon as I get done with these things that have to be done...I can...do whatever it is that is your driving passion.!!

For me it is my scrapbooking. I remember the day at work when a co-worker brought in his wife's vacation scrapbook and I was so impressed with what she had done. And to be honest...while it was a super scrapbook...it is nothing compared to what I know is being done in the world of scrapbooking. It was then that I was bitten by that infectious bug. I guess because I have a lowered immune system with my muscle disease...I really got the bug! LOL

This hobby has changed my life completely. I had been feeling pretty down because of my myasthenia gravis. It means extreme muscle weakness. It changes your life a lot but it is quite manageable. It just takes some willingness to learn how to change your life so that you conserve as much energy as you can. Besides being weak, you don't have much stamina. So the normal things I was used to doing...cooking, cleaning, laundry...that kind of stuff my darling husband took over. Not that I could not do it but he chose to do it and save me the draw on my strength... he liked doing it, and said I had done it for him for thirty years, let me do it for you for the next thirty. So that is how it is now. But that also made a change in my life. It took away a lot of the driving force within me. What do I do with all this time? It even took away a lot of "brain thinking" time. As most who run a household...you think all the time about what needs to be done...when it needs done...when it needs to be stared to get done in time...how it will get done. There is a lot of brain time in running a household! How will I fill this time??

I don't think it was an accident that I saw that scrapbook that day. God sent it my way. Thank you very much for that! I somehow got on the Internet and found the Memory Makers Magazine site. Humm...looked good to me

I spent a long time perusing that site. I went out and got things to start scrapping and got going on it. So much fun. I loved everything about scrapping! My mind was starting to be occupied with this wonderful hobby.

After a few weeks of watching the Memory Makers site I started reading the forum. I read it for what seemed like a long time...but I can't actually remember how long. I wanted to join in but hesitated...not having ever done anything like that and figuring I wouldn't be accepted because everyone seemed so close in that group. But something kept at me and I finally became a registered member of Memory Makers and posted my first post on the forum.

That post has changed my life! This group welcomed me with open arms. I was instantly part of their group. As I started writing I was learning so much about scraping. They knew I was a "newbie" as we call them to the world of scrapbooking and were so helpful in telling about what products would help me and gave me tips on how to do things. But more than that...they became my friends. Friends in the truest sense of the word.

The people on this forum are the closest knit group of people I have ever met. We laugh and we cry with each other. We share the pains in our lives and we share all the joys! When one rejoices we all rejoice. When one hurts...we all hurt. We are family. We love each other.

There is nothing more exciting than after all the months...and years...of corresponding both in print and by phone with each other, to get the opportunity to meet each other in person as we travel to different areas of the country. It is always a top priority to make a connection with whoever lives in the part of the country we are visiting. I recently had the opportunity to meet up with lizardsmom from Kentucky with her darling husband and daughter when they visited Florida. I just had to make a scrapbook page to give to her when we met!! I think at first our husbands were a little reserved about doing this. But when we met we all had such a wonderful time. Even the guys bonded and it was just a beautiful experience. It is something we will never forget and plan on continuing our new found family friendship.

This is what has been done to my life. Scrapbooking has made a tremendous change in my life...but it has been a wonderful change. Not only do I get to preserve memories for my family and friends using my love of art and crafts, I get to have a driving force that propels me through all the mundane things that face not only me but all of us! I want to learn new techniques, I want to make scrapbook pages and homemade cards but most of all I have a wonderful group of new-found friends that I wouldn't trade for all the tea in China!!

If you are not already doing so, why don't you take a trip to the Memory Makers Magazine site and have a look around? Join the forum and start a new journey in scrapbooking and also to a most wonderful group of friends!! Come along...we would love to have you!! Give it a try.

Scrapbooking. What a wonderful thing it has done to my life!

My thought for today.

Enjoy...