The Story Must Go On...

This past 6 months have been some of the most tumultuous in my 45 years on the planet. My business disappeared over night, we moved house, a family friend passed away, we have all had medical dramas, my eldest child finished secondary school, we have battled teenage mood swings and dramas, computer problems, I started a new business...and so it goes. And to be honest, I haven't really felt much like scrapbooking. Because it all just got too hard. The things that I had held hard and fast to for the last 15 years about album-making disappeared with my business and that meant I had to make new choices, new decisions, change the way I was doing things. Hmmm, change...something this little bunny is not always good with.

So now here we are six months down the track. All those tumultuous events have left their mark on me (some continue to do so on a daily basis!) and in the midst of it all I really haven't scrapped very much at all. Even my Project Life album is w-a-y behind. Much of my stuff is still packed in boxes from the move. And now my computer is having massive problems which means that I have to offload all of my files to a portable hard drive and then wipe the disk memory and hopefully start again. Problems. Big problems. Problems that easily become an excuse not to scrapbook.

But our story has gone on regardless. In amongst all that turmoil have been some great stories. There has been sorrow but there has also been celebration and joy and excitement and fun and success and accolades. And really, that's just life...the story must go on. And so must the memory keeping, the story telling and in my case, the scrapbooking. I am still finding my way back to traditional scrapbooking with paper and embellishments, still taking photos and hoarding memorabilia, still wanting to scrapbook but just not quite there yet. My studio is a complete mess, there isn't even room for me in there at the moment! And still there are decisions that must be faced. Do I abandon my current digital photo storage method for something more commercially available? Do I just bite the bullet and pay for the new and improved version of what I have? And what about digital scrapbooking? Digi scrapbooking was the place I felt most comfortable and at home. Now I don't know which way to go.

Close To My Heart has been my salvation in so many ways, and it has filled the gaping void left by CM a million times over. Truly, I could not be more happy than I am with CTMH. So as I continue to battle my computer demons I think I am just going to follow my instincts and come up with a solution that suits ME. A hybrid solution. It's going to take a bit of time, effort and money but it feels like the right thing to do. And if you are feeling the same way, I would urge you to do the same - just go with your gut because you are the only person who truly knows what is right and what works for YOU!

So just to prove that the story really does go on and for those of you who missed seeing my child in this state (warning: this is not for the faint-of-heart!) here is an indicator of our story of late:

Life and the story rolls on! Here's to happier and healthier days!