Happy Birthday Alice

Today would have been my Gram's 87's Birthday.

Unfortunately, she is no longer with us to celebrate.

Even after more than a year & a half, it still hurts my heart to say that.

Instead of spending the day sad- 

which I know she would not have wanted-- 

I'm choosing to really celebrate.

Alice Emily at about 10months old- 1924

The layouts that I have to share tonight are ones that it has taken me a long time to finally complete.  

The photos are all taken in the 5 days that I was home, in NY, for Gram's funeral.

You see, even though we are a big family, we haven't been that close.  

So many of us are scattered across the country & the world, that it becomes very easy to loose touch.  

Sometimes things happen that cause rifts and arguments.  

And when the person you're angry with lives far away, it's really easy to just let the relationship fade away-- until you suddenly realize that it's been 5 or 10 or 20 years since you last spoke to them.  

It sucks, but it happens. 

That's the reason that I chose to post these layouts today- on Gram's birthday.  

Because that was us.  

Related, but barely knowing each other. 

But she fixed it.  

In losing her, we found each other.  

In the few days that we were all together, we talked, we laughed and we remembered. 

I had conversations with family that I literally have not seen since Kindergarten.

Real friends are the ones who show up before you even realize that you need them.  

Who knew that we were so very blessed?

Best Picture Ever...

On a scrappy note:  The gold flowers in the centers are metal bead caps that I pounded out flat.  The brad prongs were too big to go through the hole in the center, so I just cut the prongs off & used a glue dot.  Love me some glue dots!!

If you didn't yet know this-- my family are seriously camera happy.  

Seriously.  Camera.  Happy.  

I was in NY 5 days & came home with almost 2500 photos.  

Just from my 4 immediate family members.  

Crazy-ness.  

But don't think for one second that this is a complaint.  

It's not- not even a little bit!  

Photos make me happy.  

But that many photos makes the scrapper in me slightly schizophrenic.

So, I decided to make my life a little easier & use divided page protectors mixed in with regular 12x12 layouts.

(Whoever invited these is someone that I would happily kiss on the lips if I ever met them.  Brilliant!  They are a busy scrapper's best friend!) 

Of course, I jazzed them up a little here & there, but just wanted to give you the idea.

Supplies: DCWV Creme de la Creme Stack & Cardstock,Flowers: Prima & Spare Parts, Chipboard Swirls: Heidi Grace, Border Punch: Fiskars, Quote Stickers: DCWV, Cricut Cartridges: Calligraphy Collection, Accent Essentials

Of course, the whole trip was not entirely sadness.

There were family dinners, 

dinners with friends, 

breakfasts with Gramma George,

 some things that you  just had to be there for,

 

 and one last meal before we all scattered back to our homes.

But we all walked away better for having been there.  

We let go of old baggage and finally started to get to know each other.

And I'm proud to say that we are still in contact.  

Thanks to Facebook, we all hear from each other on a regular basis. 

We're even talking about a family reunion-type trip next year.

That's why I decided to post these today.

To celebrate Gram's last and best gift to all of us.

Each other.  

Happy Birthday Gram.  

I love you!