Looking for the Silver Lining

 

Who would have thought that the COVID pandemic, ongoing lockdowns and forced solitude would give me the chance to learn more about my family than I had known before? I’ve been told that there is almost always something good that can come out of bad, and I this case I can say it was true.

Time was hanging heavy and even the company of my husband needed occasional time-outs. Cleaning and decluttering were activities I could do by myself, and I did try. But I admit I am quite easily distracted. As I was looking through things stored in the basement, I came across scrapbooks that had belonged to my Mother. Before she was taken by breast cancer, the same illness that had taken Mama, my sister-in-law, Marie, had packaged up the scrapbooks and other memorabilia and sent it to me with the note, “Now you’re the keeper of the archives.”

I’d always known that the scrapbooks existed. Mama had kept them in the bottom drawer of the dresser in the spare bedroom. After Daddy died, and “The Homestead” was sold, Dean and Marie had packed them up and stored them in their home. Looking back, I realize that in sending them to me, Marie was organizing things so that Dean wouldn’t have to.

I was glad to have the scrapbooks and envelopes of photos, and such, but I had never taken time to really look at them. As I began going through the things, I quickly realized that exploring the past was lots more fun and interesting than decluttering and cleaning in the present.

I found myself first focusing on Mama’s scrapbook from her time in the Navy. While it was in surprisingly good shape, it still needed some care. I went through it, page by page, reinforcing the holes and restringing the cord that held it together. I even took photos of each page so I could make copies of the scrapbook to share with my brothers and their families. I made photo copies of letters and the inside of cards that were in the scrapbook in their envelopes, and not visible when looking at the pages. That way everyone can read them without damaging the originals. There were pamphlets from the Navy, movie ticket stubs, and postcards. There was even a mimeographed program from the Navy memorial service held at the base for President Roosevelt.

It was through the words that were inside those notes, letters and greeting cards, and the captions she wrote for the ephemera that were important enough to her to be saved in the scrapbook, that I was able to learn more than I ever knew about my mother as a woman, and individual, and not just as “Mama.” Though she has been gone for nearly 50 years, she spoke to me through her scrapbook.

It was those scrapbooks and the insights into her life they gave me, that became the inspiration for my current writing. I write about the past so maybe I, too, can speak to the family of the future.