Monday, May 23, 2011

Books In Memoriam

Just had a wonderful weekend with a friend of over 50 years. We gathered for her mom's memorial service. My friend had printed the pages for a wonderful memory book for the members of her extended family. I had printed 2 additional sheets to insert. Constructing the books required a bit of changing from plan A to plan B, but we got a production line going and completed the project in time, and in good form. For my friend, the experience of choosing the photos and laying out the pages provided a welcome opportunity to look through family photos and to get a comforting sense of her mom's life in the process.

Compiling memorial books brings a sweet sense of closure that can be shared in a simple way and enjoyed by circles of family and friends. A small group or individuals can choose the photos most meaningful to them if you have a stack of inexpensive, small plastic photo albums along with boxes of copied photos, on a convenient table as they attend a wake, visiting hours, or a reception after a memorial service. This provides a thoughtful memorial without one person bearing the entire burden of creating all the books.

It was not a burden to create my friend's books, because she had all the parts on hand, all the materials we needed to finish the job, and an edition of only 7 books. The shared information and experience enriched and blessed my life, too.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

I recently attended a writers' retreat at Sinsinawa Mounds, in Wisconsin, conducted by Judy Bridges. She is an excellent writing mentor and runs Redbird Studio (http://www.redbirdstudio.com/index.html), and it was a great experience. The retreat gave me a good objective look at my writing, and a firm but joyful push to keep going. I haven't created any books lately. . . That will come.