Saturday, May 10, 2008

Confessions of a Scrapbooker's Husband

My sweet wife has an addiction to rubber stamps, paper cutouts, brads, hole punches, picture layouts, colored paper, ink, toner, ribbons, scissors and tape. All signs indicate that she has contracted that life-altering infection commonly known as "Scrapbookus Giganticus Obsessium" or "Recordum Lifeus Largo" Some of the more obvious signs of this addiction include a dizzying array of colored ink pads, enough paper to make the environuts go postal, and photographs scattered from heck to breakfast throughout the house. An ever increasing number of scrapbooks seem to absorb an ever diminishing supply of bookshelf real estate, and the one thing in the house my wife can always find is her camera.

Like most clueless husbands, I originally ignored the increasingly obvious signs of my wife's affliction with this bug. "This is just a fad." I would say. "She will enjoy this for a little while and then everything will return to normal." I was so naive, so innocent, so blind.

In its current state, my wife's affliction has ratcheted up her creativity (already impressive) to heights never explored before. She has become much more tech saavy with her digital camera and the computer that organizes a plethora of pictures each week. She can turn ordinary events into a celebration of family life, and records them in a way that drive us back to the books time and again to relive fun times and remember those moments which help shape our family's character.

In the not so distant past, my wife took her scrapbooking out to the blogosphere where she has not only recorded images of our life, but written her own thoughts about the images shown there and how they have affected her. I confess that I look at her blog daily, to see what has happened with our family and to get her wonderful perspective on life and parenting. I also confess that, while I personally am not addicted to scrapbooking, I am addicted to the way that my wife is recording our family history. My children and I are indebted to her for taking the time to record our lives and her observations on them. I enjoy her talent to capture our family activities and turn them into permanent exhibits on who we are and what we do.

I am grateful for my wife and her attention to the details that make up our experiences here. I thoroughly enjoy her hobby and am glad that she has found something exciting for her to work on during the few quiet hours she gets at home.

Thanks Dulcinea!

3 comments:

Shauna said...

Wow! You said it PERFECTLY!!! Although I laughed my way thru your commentary I must admit that you are absolutely right about all of it. Your wife is truly a miraculous gem! Over the years of her affliction I have tried to be supportive and even purchased my far share of paraphernalia, yet somehow my immune system has proven wonderfully resilient to this particular sickness. Resilient until last week, that is. I am shocked to admit that it was a fairly simple piece of paper that proved to be my downfall. (Darn that Bazzill!) After years of admiring her work and all the lovely trappings of the trade I am finally fully afflicted. On Saturday a woman noticed the camera I was using and commented to your wife "Oh, you're scrapbookers? You can always tell the scrapbookers because of their cameras" I was almost horrified to realize she was right! I feel it is important to note that I purchased that camera from your wife after her recent upgrade. However, no excuse can explain the fact that I have started carrying it around to simple outings in the hope of capturing the perfect moment. I am very seriously searching out a photoshop class. Photography has topped the list of my educational pursuits (who would choose Finance over Photography?). My paper supply in increasing almost every other day. It is clear I have been fully afflicted. There is no point in denying it. My defenses are done for, I have clearly surrendered. So now begins that continual pursuit of creativity. I am thrilled to have her as my guide and mentor and look forward to the journey ahead. Thank you for supporting her in everything she loves!

C said...

You said it perfectly!!! What a great post. I love that you said it all, and you said it beautifully :-)
-Christy

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Hey Paul,
You are one talented writer and it was wonderful to get to know the famous S better through you! Thanks!