A Journey in the Making

Although it was a labor of love, I'm not going to sugar coat it... making an actual memory book is almost as hard as making the memories!!  A few months ago I took some serious thought in the fact my dad was going to turn 80 this year!!! That my friends is a milestone for any one.  Eighty years on this Earth!!!! 

Sure, we could buy him a gift card to his favorite restaurant, donate money to his favorite charity, surprise him with... whatever.... but who really is my dad?

A few years back my dad gave me a trayful of slides, most the pictures included were of me when I was a child.  We took the slides and had them professionally burned to a DVD.  What a difference a few decades make in technology.  Now it's just a click from a digital camera to the computer and ta-da... instant photo, instant memory!

My dad always loved to take pictures.  He loved his cameras (always top notch) loved his film developing equipment. That is one of the cool things I think I inherited from him... the love of picture taking.  I'm a bit of a ham, so I like to get in the picture myself.  Looking through a lot of my old slides it was hard to find pictures with my dad in them!  But I found a few! Maybe some he didn't remember!

 I started asking for help to make this book even MORE special.  I sent a note to all his 'friends' in his email address book and requested that they send me a story, a memory or a wish for my dad.  The responses came in slow, but the few I got describe my dad to a T.  He is a very informed and organized man, who loves his family, loves his cars and is willing to share a joke or a story.... often!

I made the book through the online Shutterfly store and added the stories after.  I also scanned pictures from some of my albums and took pictures off the disk I had.  I added my scrapiness to the blank pages and made an interactive memory book.

 The fun part now, adding the doo dads and the dots, adding a note or squiggle.... It was almost a difficult thing to actually write in the book.... after all, I was taught not to deface printed material.  But each new page had a twist or a flip to it.... a nice picture, with a fun story.  Something to draw the eye in, and maybe make it a bit misty!!! A great memory!

The book is 8" x 8" on glossy paper with binded pages. I submitted  16 pictures, but through the use of my printer, I added about 8 more.  From poems and stories I got via email, I printed them and  was able to put together a great memory book.

What an awesome life, what an awesome journey.  Who is Geo J. Hub?  A very special man who has touched so many people's lives!!!  Thanks everyone who helped be a part of this special man's story!