Why I want to do this

It’s a common scenario. Our parents and grandparents have shoeboxes and shoeboxes of photographs. Some may write dates on the back, some may not. Some may be glued to the pages of an album, making it difficult to remove or share. And then what happens to these memories when our loved ones are no longer here? Who gets to keep the photographs? Who has the time or the tools to scan and share with other family members?

It was very important to me to provide this service to my family, and I was fortunate to do it while my grandparents were still living.

A little over 10 years ago, my paternal grandfather, Grandpa Leon, was diagnosed with cancer again. I remember finding a shoebox of family photos, and I wanted to preserve, organize them, and make an album for my grandparents while they were still well enough to share the memories. I quickly got to work and created this album for them. They were so happy. They showed it to everyone that visited. By the end of the next year, they would both be gone.

After they had passed, I added two memorial pages for them in this book and ordered a new one for my dad to gift him for Christmas. I think that was the most special gift I could have given him and his siblings - who he ordered ones for as well.

In the time since, I have made a book for my maternal grandparents, my maternal grandmother’s side of the family (her parents and siblings), a 50th birthday book of my mom, and a special wedding album for my parents, when all they had were a collection of 4x6 prints.

Most recently, I created a book for my father-in-law’s side of the family. It was so rewarding creating this for my new family, even not personally knowing all of the people and stories in that book.

I thought to myself.. maybe I can do this for more families. I am looking forward to seeing where this journey leads and the memories I can help others preserve for future generations.