I’ve been hesitant to document any more of our pandemic experiences, because I’m well aware that our world will be dealing with this virus for a very long time to come, and I wasn’t sure how I would reflect on this time a year or so from now. Would our lives be better? Worse? Would some of the silly experiences seem trivial? Would we loose another beloved family member by then? I had already done two pages documenting the serious side of this virus, paying respect to a beloved cousin who died in April.
I’ve been thinking a lot of my grandmother as a little girl lately, living through the Spanish flu in the early 20th century, and wishing she spoke of that experience more when she was alive. I remember her describing her sister dying, and her being laid out in the living room of their rural farm house where visitors came to pay their respects.... during a pandemic!
She would have been the same age as my younger son, and I realized that I needed to dive in so he had a perspective of living during the pandemic, not some fuzzy memory years later. Our scrapbooks (and blogs!) are our journals, capturing either our feelings in the moment, or memories of long ago. Either way, I dove in yesterday.
So, I pulled out the one small collection of “pandemic paper” I had purchased, and started. I wanted to capture how scared and nervous we were to shop for food and still show the fun we had visiting our family to deliver their groceries. As the months have gone on and on, I realize now that this chore unfortunately became routine, but the day I documented my 1 hr drive north to our parents houses to deliver groceries seemed novel at the time, and happy, because it reminded us how great it was to see each other’s faces.
First I dropped off some educational toys and supplies on my sisters porch, as she was worried how difficult remote schooling had been on my young niece, only two weeks into our state’s mandatory lockdown orders.
Next, I stopped at my moms house, who was already really lonely and scared after two weeks of isolation. This time highlighted that it was especially hard for her because my dad had died almost three years prior. She was so happy to see and interact with someone in person. Luckily it was a nice March afternoon and we were able to take a walk around the neighborhood. It was strange to purposely walk so far apart, which is what the photo of us documents.
Finally, I drove across town and dropped off more hard to find supplies at my in-laws house. It was a quick but cheerful porch front visit, as I could see they were nervous too.
sdm-
Collection: Loving the quarantine life by Photo Play.
Paper and Ephemera.
Collection: Let’s Wander by Vicki Boutin.
Mixed media card stock, stencil and tag journal pieces.
Solid paper:
Close to My Heart. Urban. Representative: Kristine Teanse Easton, PA. Solid: Paprika.
Tim Holtz Distrssed Oxide Ink. Speckled Egg.
Nuvo Emerald Isle Vintage Drops
Alphas: jillibean soup alphabean stickers. Rosy dot.
Adhesive: Pop Dots and Tonic Studios double ended Glue Pen.
Supplier: Michaels
Solid paper: Recollections. Blues.
Patterned paper: Studio Calico.
Artist's Loft 0.3 black illustration pen.
Ribbon: Straight ‘N’ Narrow. Ribbon Offray.
Silver Grommets: Unknown.
Twine by Stampin’ Up! Wysteria.
Colored grommets: Eyelet outlet.
Date Stamp: Staples.
powder puff Charcoal chalking ink by Quick Quotes
Fibers and Border stickers: Manufacturer: unknown. Supplier: HSN.
ATG: unknown.
Buttons and Brads: unknown.
Templates: Kiwi lane.
Pop-Up Dot Stickers. Crafter's Square. Supplier: Dollar Tree.
Update: I decided to add a complimentary page to this the next day, because I really enjoyed this collection more than I thought I would:
