I'm finally getting the boxes of paper and pictures that is my 70+ years of living on this planet into scrapbooks...it took a pandemic to finally get me started..ha!

I've gotten the baby book finished that my mother started back when I was born but never completed..that was fun.

I did my work life book and that was eye opening and strangely satisfying since I went against all things mormon women are supposed to do and held down a job of some kind for most of my adult life.

Now I am working on the school days scrapbook and already I know it is going to be fun to recall those years and friends and accomplishments.

But..in the process of sorting, I have a box full of primary, MIA and adult church stuff. One part of me wants to chuck it all in the garbage. I was fairly devout at one time and have written in journals about "spiritual experiences" I had. A huge part of my young adult life revolved around my one serious boyfriend and waiting for him while he went on a mission after we got engaged. This all came into play 22 years later after we married and had 4 kids and then he came out as a gay man. So, it's part of my larger story.

Anyone had this situation? Scrapbook it or not?

A few years ago I dumped a ton of mormon memorabilia.

I only miss a few things that I wished I had kept.

For better or for worse, I was a mormon.

I feel much less threatend by the nostalgia now. A few years ago, dumping it helped me to make a mental break.

It all depends on what your immediate needs are.

A thought stalks me: I wish I'd had a smartphone all my life so I could look at all the photos I would have accumulated.

But then the related thought pops up: only I would have the interest and take the time to review them! And how many of the photos would make me wince and reach for the delete key?


Do you think that when they reach their 80s, any current "online influencer" will look back and feel regret?

If the purpose of your scrap book is to leave a record of your life, you may want to consider a book on your time in church.

I don't see a point in keeping too many records. Especially a journal, I look back at my life and there's been a lot of uneventful events, a lot of lack luster days, a lot of monotonous work, a lot of scams. Scraping for life's purpose, the low wage/no wage treadmill.

"Please Sir can I have some more?"... "MORE!!!?"

I don't really want future people to know what life was 'really like' back in the days of George W and Obama.