Mini Memory Book

Welcome, friends…

Today I’m joining Handmade Thursday at White Lily Green, where you’ll find lots of talented bloggers showing their handmade goodies.  I’ll be showing a mini memory book made especially for my uncle’s visit.  But first I’d like to “show off” my uncle, who’s an amazing man with a big heart, lots of energy, and fantastical stories to tell.

Great uncles are grand!

My Uncle Tom has been playing softball for, well, more years than I can remember, and recently came to Texas City with his softball team to participate in the Senior Olympics.  You have to be 70 years or older to participate, so in my eyes, these guys are amazing! And if that isn’t impressive, they played in 98 degrees with 70-80% humidity, and sometimes two or three games in a row!

As only God could plan it, my uncle happened to be staying only 10 miles from where my son and I live, and I happened to have that Sunday off (I never get weekends off but maybe 4 times a year) so we got to see him again after 10 years.

Uncle Tom took us to dinner, told us great stories, and took us to see the park where he was playing.  It was hard to say ‘goodbye’.  After a terrific evening, we went to a little place to get something cool to drink, and I presented him with a book in memory of his trip.

From the Rise of the Sun

This is the first book I’ve made in many years…so it took me quite a while, but was well worth every page.  The cover is made with mat board and covered with scrapbook paper.

The book opens accordion-style, or can be opened from one end at a time and read in normal book-style.

One side of the book features more traditional memories, spiritual verses, and the like.

My mother is my uncle’s eldest sister, who now is unfortunately spending her days with little memory in a home.  She was a vibrant, healthy, energetic woman, who is still loved and remembered very much the way she used to be.  They live in New Jersey, where the rest of my family still lives, and he visits her once a week without fail, staying hours with her, feeding her, kissing and hugging her…he doesn’t see her the way she is in her physical form, but has the ability to see her as she truly is.  What a God-given gift!

To honor his love for her, I copied a photo of her when she was young, standing in their mother’s backyard.  She is the eldest of 5 children, and Uncle Tom is the youngest.  He, his older brother, John, and my mom are the remaining siblings.

My son said this was his favorite part.  “I like this, mom, I’m really liking this.” A beautiful way to remember his grandmother.  (I think I’ll do one for him – a book of memories of him and his grandmother together).

In a pocket I added photos of myself and my son.

The the other side of the book is a memory builder of his trip here.

The Take Me Out to the Ballgame page is jammed with baseball slogans, like…”you’re a big hit”, “We’re your biggest fans”, “Your visit is over the fence!”, and more.

I found a photo from 2009 on the internet of Uncle Tom and his team, and copied it and put it on the last page of the book.  He was very surprised to see it.

To the Rise of the Moon

He loved the book!  And I enjoyed making it.  It was truly a love project.  Thank you for letting me share this with all of you today.

Thank you for visiting Leisure Lane.  If you like what you see here, feel free to relax and ‘stroll’ around the lane for a while. Until next time, may happy days abound.

Marianne