I am 47 years old and I don't remember things the way I used to.
Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
I probably didn't remember things all that well in my 30s either. Or maybe even in my 20s.
In fact, if it weren't for the diaries I kept from ages 11–14, I probably wouldn't remember anything from those awkward tween and early teen years. And if it weren't for the journals I kept in my late teens through my early college years, same deal.
Sure, I can remember sweeping events. But it's the little things. The details. That is the stuff that is pretty much gone from the old noggin'.
A few weeks ago, Aidan and I were talking about doing a college campus tour to one of my two alma maters, the University of Washington. I was trying to recall stories of dorm life but the only one I could really remember was the night I downed an entire six pack of Olde English 800, passed out at 7 p.m. and woke up in the middle of the night on the bathroom floor. After throwing up a few times, I noticed that someone had drawn giant black bats (thank you, Billy Kincaid) all over my body with Sharpie.
Sure, that's some detail. (It's also the last time in my life I ever got quite that schnockered.) But that's what I call a sweeping event. What I don't remember was daily life as a freshman at UW. I don't remember how I made my way through campus and found my classes for the first time. I don't remember if I was ever stressed out at the work load. I simply don't remember the little things. My daily routine. What I ate for lunch. What I thought of the weather. Hell, I even had coffee with one of the guys from a band that would later become Pearl Jam, but I can't even remember what he looked like, or what we talked about, though I know that his name was Stone Gossard and I sort of remember thinking: not my type.
I don't even have many photos from that era. But such were the times in olden days, pre iPhone and Instagram.
It's the same with my life as a newlywed.
It's the same with my life as a young mother.
I don't remember the every day aspects of those times in my life. It's all going to sweeping now. The specifics are so much harder to hold onto.
Just last week I was telling a friend, who used to scrapbook but no longer does, "I wish I had done Project Life since Aidan was born at the very least." I went on to tell her that this past year-and-a-half contains more detail of the stuff I want to remember than anything I've ever done before.
And it is so not about being some crazy Scrapbook Mom. You know, the Moms who are so busy documenting that they miss out on the actual living part of the memories they're making. I've been there and done that a few times over the years.
Project Life is really about the little stuff… the minutiae… the specifics… the glorious mundane trappings of every day that I wouldn't trade for all the L-Series lenses in the Canon arsenal.
I think many of us agree that this is the stuff we want to remember. Not the fence posts of life, but the slats that make up what contains our everyday existence.
My therapist and I have talked a lot about the facts of a human life. We are born, we have a life span, we have emotions and we eventually die. It's not overstating to point out that this span of time is utterly and completely precious.
Some of us get more of it than others.
Some of us have an easier time in the process.
But all of us can connect to the gratitude for the opportunity.
Project Life is helping me to savor this time span. It's letting me report on my life in a simple way. It doesn't stress me out. It doesn't take up all of my time.
It simply lets me acknowledge this life I'm so grateful to have.
It's just something I felt compelled to share with you today.
To learn more about Project Life, click here.
dawn says
I feel the same way about PL, it’s the only thing on my creative side that’ I’ve stayed with for this long. Scrapping and painting comes and goes and comes back again but Project Life has STAYED 4 years now. I love it more and more and never grow tired of it. It’s all the little things like you said that keep me committed to it.
I sooooo wish my mom had this while I was growing up and wish that this was here for when my kids were babies too. Lots of little things I can’t remember either from my childhood and my own kids.
It has made me slow down and see things that would get overlooked. Looking back over the pages makes me happy and reminds me of the blessings in my life. Even when the kids are moved out I can see me still doing PL.
I like that you can make it work for YOU!! NO RULES!! Last week my days were spent enjoying my Lilacs that just bloomed. I took lots of photos of them, brought them inside, sketched them and so my pages reflect that, filled up a whole page with just my Lilacs. My kids will think I’m crazy seeing this but they will also know how happy I was with watching them bloom.
It’s been so awesome watching you start PL and loving it just as much as I do. You have done a super job documenting the little things and even getting your story in there too. WAY TO GO CATHY!!!
Thanks Cathy!
Rosy K says
Cathy, I’m doing Project Life for the first time this year and I feel exactly the same way–wish I had done it earlier. Over the last 19 weeks I’ve captured so much of the little details of my everyday life that simply would have gone undocumented. I simply love flipping through it and know that years from now it will be one of my most cherished albums.
Cara Seppelt says
I agree with everything you said – so much of my life is a complete blank when I look back, and when my kids ask me about some specific time in my life (like school or teenage years) I think hard and then go, ‘nope, I can’t remember that at all.’ This is my second year of PL and my daughter gets as much of a kick looking back at it as I do – she’s 20 and already forgetting things until the PL page brings it all back.
kris says
I also wish I would have documented the days when I was pregnant and when the boys were younger. I started when they were about 8 and 11 but would love to flip back at those newborn or toddler days. I love the little parts of our life I pick up doing Project Life. Sure I have the big moments in photos, but miss seeing what the everyday looked like.
Michelle McKean says
Cathy, I really love this post. I think you summed up what a lot of people are thinking. I also wish I had this system in my teen and college years. It would have been great for my kids to look at them and know that, yes, I went through the same things, had the same feelings. Thanks for posting this. It definitely inspires me to capture more moments because they are fleeting.
Nancy says
I love this post. I’m going to share it with my friend. I’ve been trying to convince her to do PL with me and another friend, but she insists she has no life! lol. She says, “Well, most days Izzy just chases the bunny around the apartment.” I tried telling her, “One day she won’t chase the bunny anymore. You will miss it.” But once again, you said it much more eloquently than I. Thanks!
keianna says
Great post and one of the reasons I have done PL in one form or another for three years. Also grateful I started scrapbooking at the start of my marriage and before we had our daughter. Her life is well preserved in all its silliness.
Michelle Mounts says
I totally agree. My daughter is getting ready to go to college this fall and I wish I could remember more of my daily life when I was that age. I just started doing PL and I love the fact that I am finally recording the “little things” as opposed to just scrapbooking major events. You are one of the reasons (Ali Edwards being the other) why I finally decided to start doing it this year! Thanks for your continued inspiration. And thanks for being a “regular” person that I really can relate to!
Cheryl says
I admit…I’ve wanted to start a PL project for the last few years – but sadly I haven’t. But this is going to change. Like your daughter, my son starts his Senior Year of high school next year and I’m already working on an album idea to help us capture the everyday things…the things we would probably both forget about otherwise. It’s also my last chance to really capture his “everyday”. Oh no, feeling my heart swell and tears puddle. Deep breath….
Sara Mangan says
I agree 100%. I have done Project Life since 2009. One of the years we built a house and moved twice in 6 months. Yes, I was busy that year but I still did it because it is so easy. It is the best type of scrapbooking I have ever done in my life. I also agree I wish I had more pictures of my college years. I don’t even think I have one of my dorm room. 🙁
Barb says
Exactly! I really makes me blue when I think about all the wasted days that I can’t remember from all stages. I see my girls in college and during the first year of marriage and waiting for the baby to get here and wish I could start all over just so I could do something to save the everyday memories. I wish they could see how I feel so they would start from the beginning and get in the habit of everyday memory keeping.
I also find it hard to start now since I am trying to get over the fact that all the good times in my life are done…. Oh we’ll, hind sight is certainly 20/20.
Ellie Augustin says
PPPPPRRRREACH… For the past 2 years that I have done Project Life it’s so amazing that I just go back to those albums and if it weren’t because they were documented I wouldn’t remember and I so wish I would have know about PL way long before it. It’s not about making it the prettiest the most ohhh & Ahh it’s being to capture the everyday a window that is frozen so not only will your children get to relive their childhood but you yourself can relieve those little moments you cherished and after seeing it again getting it reawaken again and being thankful for the littlest of things.
Katie Pertiet says
Well said, Cathy! I feel exactly the same way! I wish my daughter could see the need to journal and/or do project life as she heads off to college but she just doesn’t see it the way I do. I wish I had more pictures of everyday life at college. I was a “pro pic” party photographer so lots of crazy party pics but not the everyday. Live and learn 🙂
Renee Camacho says
You have COMPLETELY taken the words out of my mind and put them down for others to hear. (minus the passed out and being drawn on by sharpies part, lol!) I just don’t remember the details. Show me a picture and I can remember the moment, but not necessarily the details.
It makes this only 39 year old brain very sad indeed…but so BLESSED to be able to have PL to help with the details that matter!
Beth R says
I agree 100% and yet I CAN NOT START !
I am an empty nester,even that sounds sad, of 1 daughter.
I have so many regrets that I was not even a scrapper when she was a baby/toddler. That was back in the dark ages before anyone outside of Utah had even heard of scrapping. Now PL…ahhh exactly what I have wanted to document ever since the first day I started scrapping in 2001 and yet my life is so mundane that I just cant start. I have 4 or 5 kits and LOVE the concept. I need to find a way to make that first page.
I soooo wish I had an album of the daily details of my life at various ages and stages.
Believe me, as you get older and your noggin is full of crap you just forget. Even the moments you think “I will never forget this” yes ma’am, you do.
Anyone else stuck at the starting line?
Robyn C. says
With each blog post I like you more and more. You give voice to things that speak to me. Honestly I am SO thrilled that Joanna Johnson directed me to your blog. I love your honesty, your creativity and your humor. THANK YOU for putting yourself out there for all of us!
Chris says
This post perfectly sums up Project Life. You are an excellent writer. This is my second year doing PL and I am behind and you have motivated me to catch up. And, I would be remiss to not say, “Go Huskies!”
Cindi says
You made me cry! I had great intentions of doing Project Life in a weekly format this year. All the folders are set up on the computer. I scheduled it on my calendar every Monday. My album is ready to go. I have taken lots of photos and collected lots of life’s little bits in a pile on my desk. I have read lots of blog posts on the process and have a board on Pinterest devoted to the project. But I just. Could. Not. Start. The quest to do it perfectly has paralyzed me. But your post has made me break the album out and just begin. Thank you Cathy for all of your wisdom and inspiration you have given us over the years. It is priceless!
Paige S. says
Amen! I usually sb the big events, but this year I’m documenting the ordinary daily life. And the funny thing is that my kids are looking forward to each PL page that I add to the album. Who knew they were so interested?
Thank you, Cathy, for your words today.
Kropster says
Cathy, I am not doing project life per se, but since 2007 I have done a “page a week” album. When I started in 2007 I even scraplifted the cover of your sequel book to use as my cover and called it “what’s happening .. in the world.. with my family .. in my life”. At the time I sent you a jpeg of that cover because I was so excited it turned out so well.
I agree!! This is the best scrapbooking I have done and I love looking at the 6 years of these books to recall what was happening in the world, with my family and in my life. And if you were to look at these, you would be happy to see that about 80% of the layouts are inspired by your books, your classes or other pages you have shared on your blog. 2007 was also when I was getting into digital and the albums have evolved from hybrid to mostly digital. I gotta say I still love the texture of hybrid, but the digital is just too damn easy and always looks great.
Stacy Milford says
🙂
Kaysie says
Bravo! Your words ring ever so true. I am finishing up an “All About Me’ scrapbook from family history thru childhood (just turned 62 yrs old) and ending it when hubby and I got married ( next book!). Looking this past week thru the high school and college pictures, why, there are a total, YES a total of about 25 pictures. I am glued to the 3 1/2 inch square prints not so much for the person in the picture as I am to the backgrounds…the dorm room, the college campus…the pizza place…trying to stir up some memories ……and then I also realized…every day life……that is what LIFE is all about and sigh, some years the everyday stuff has faded from memory.
Kristy M says
Very nicely said. I wish I hadn’t taken a hiatus from scrapbooking when my kids were really small. Now I look at those pictures as I prep to put them into a PL style album, and I can’t remember the details. It’s so saddening. The only pieces I can remember are those I’ve watched in a random video I took with my camera, and those are few and far between.
Lynne Gillis says
So, so true! The other thing that Project Life does for me is that it reminds me that I matter; that my stories matter. You see, at 53 years old, I don’t have kids. I’ve not been married (yet!), and so the events and activities that are so much a part of my friends lives are not part of my own. But that doesn’t mean that my stories aren’t important or valuable or worth remembering. It just means that they are maybe not the same as someone else’s stories. And that’s all good. They aren’t meant to be the same. So Project Life has been a Godsend for me in helping me to remember that. My stories are important. My days are important. And this is an awesome way to remember them. xoxoxo!
Beth Holmes says
Interesting. I agree and am so happy I did PL in 2012 and in 2013, but I decided not to do it this year because I want to go back and work on photos and memories from when my dd was little — you know all those I didn’t capture either, before we had a digital camera. I want to have time to scan those photos and tell some of those stories — that said — I might use the project life format to tell those stories. But for now I am enjoying the break from weekly PL picture taking and documenting. I may break down and do monthly PL starting in the Fall with the new school year though.
Margy Eastman says
Well said, Cathy. I love PL. I used to stress about the stories I wasn’t getting told because I couldn’t bang out enough stunning layouts. I also made a promise to my camera-shy son (sound familiar?) that my PL layouts will never see the light of day. No galleries, no blogs. They’re just for us. So he’s a much more willing subject and I get TRULY candid photos.
DanaMK says
I find it so interesting that so many people like Project Life. The thought if it stresses me out beyond belief. I can’t imagine having to be so regimented with my story-telling because that’s how it feels to me. I jot any stories down on our calendar or in a notebook and look back there when I have a chance to scrapbook. I live your monthly templates and that’s what I use. That system works much better for me.
Rosa Nissenbaum says
wow Cathy. Well said. I’m glad you shared that. I needed a little pick me up to get back into doing Project Life. I have all the stuff, but seem to have lost my Project Life mojo… You reminded me of why I was doing it in the first place. One of my kids favorite scrapbooks is of the year I actually completed project life. Will have to get back to it. 🙂
carlie says
Well said.
cyranoscrap says
You said it, Cathy! It’s amazing how you think you’ll remember everything at the time, then you realize as the years slip by that you don’t. I just wish I had done something like this much earlier in life.
Annet M says
While I don’t have PL to talk about, I did do a book based on your All about me (?) for my son, which I called “ABC of David at 3” and even looking back at that, there is much we have forgotten already. I really need to work on a book for him from his birth til 3 and then again now – with so many changes in our lives (like a move from Australia to Canada), we don’t want to miss that.
Having said all that, my husband is a crazy personal videographer and loves to pull out his camera, so we have boxes of tapes that he’s just finished converting to digital and the process of going through those made us remember a lot of things. He’s “stuck” in the desire to edit them all just perfect and so hasn’t editted much at all, but at least we have all the footage and backed up as well and so while there are a few gaps (usually where I got fed up with the constant camera and so he stopped pulling it out), we have a whole lot of our pre and married life on film. I did apologise to him, because looking back at that footage is pure magic. He did a brilliant video of our son’s journey from birth through open heart surgery at 7 days old and the healing – edited it really well as well. I am sure some people thought “how can you film that” but I am so so glad for that footage and video, because we could see the rawness of the emotion and fear and every day, the glimpse of potential got stronger and the footage gets happier and then it ends in us driving away from the hospital with a healthy baby and then a bunch of stills of him growing up.
Sorry for the very long comment and thanks for this post!
Melanie Routhier says
Beautiful post. This is exactly why I have started PL. My son is 17 months and when he turned 1 I realized that I was going to forget all of these simple adorable moments with him.
My husband and I have been together for almost 20 years and sure I remember all the major moments of our relationship but if you asked me what we did in our spare time 15 years ago, I couldn’t answer you to save my life. And while some people might say that forgetting is how life is supposed to go, my answer is that I don’t want it to. When my son is older I want to be able to look over my PL albums and remember everything.
Suzy says
I feel the same way! I don’t remember the little details, & the older the get, the fewer I seem to remember. If it’s not written down, I’ve forgotten it. And it’s so sad! I’ve been resistant to the idea of capturing a photo or snippet of life every. single. day. Sure, I want to get the everyday moments. But I really didn’t want to tie myself to a daily project. Because I know the conversation I’ll have in my head the first day I forget. But maybe if I let go of the perfection & just focus on the memories, it’ll all be ok. Maybe. 🙂
Cindy L. says
From one Cindy to another…YES! Perfection Paralysis! I am right there with you. I keep making excuses about how when I get my office cleaned and organized enough, I’ll really start this project. Or, I just need to read a few more posts on how everyone else is doing it, then I’ll have a good foundation to begin. When all the while, these little moments are slipping by and sitting on my desk or on my hard drive. This post made me tear up too, and I’m vowing here are now to just start already! Life isn’t going to get any less hectic for me, that’s for sure, and even if I do one spread per month, my family and I will have a treasure to look back on for a lifetime. Thanks for your inspiring words, Cathy!
JillT says
Sounds a lot like my life. I started “daily” journaling via OhLife just because I’m old and forgetful and I get so many questions from my daughter. So that was a habig I had going and it became my starting point for PL. I am doing monthly so one spread is a month not a week. It’s not a lot. . .I’m behind just like the weekly people :). . . I probably have fewer pictures than people with kids. But I’m enjoying it all the same.
Abby P. says
No one could have said it better…luckily, I took hundreds of photos when my kids were small, so at least I have that to fall back on for memories…
Sue Alg says
What a wonderful post. I read through all the posts and I agree with them. This definitely sums up PL.
I’m 66 and in my 2nd year of PL. I’m hoping that my grandkids will enjoy reading about my life (the olden’ days) when I’m no longer with them. I just wish I had begun something like this when my mom and dad was still with us.
I’ve been doing annual scrapbooks for about 5 years for my 3 DIL which they really forward to receiving every Christmas. Of course, the favorite albums are the ones that are the oldest.
Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie says
Maybe you could do it like a journal and just write about your thoughts and your memories as they come up. Sometimes when you remember one thing, you start to remember other things. You could also use the kits to scrapbook your older photos. The most important thing is just to start. Maybe even do it in a way that has no rules, have a photo, slide it in a pocket and write about it. Who cares! The most important thing is that you have photos (from any time or place – present, past, etc) and WORDS. Your daughter will love anything and everything you document. Once you get your habit started, if you want to be more organized or create a system, then you can start a whole new album but in the end, who cares what it looks like or if it is organized or which kit you use (or if you use your own paper), the most important thing is getting your thoughts on paper so your daughter (and you) can look back one day and remember.
Angie K says
Good stuff…I was thinking along these same lines the other day while chatting with a friend. I have a High School Senior who will graduate in four weeks; while she is getting ready to send her little one off to Kindergarten in the fall. I see all the little details of everyday life with her children, and then I try and remember the details of my son’s early childhood. I can’t.
Like you said, sweeping memories, but very few of the everyday specifics. I can’t go back in time, but I can go forward and work with what I have…
Quinna says
Fourth year for project life and was burn out…then something clicked and I’m back into it. Three albums a year seems like a lot but they are by far my favorites!
Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie says
Remember the original concept of Project Life is to take the perfection paralysis out of the equation. I totally relate to what you are saying – believe me! But I would encourage you to get started without worrying about the creative stuff. Get the basic kit and start writing about your photos. Once you get in a habit, then start adding in more creative once you build your confidence and get a pattern and rhythm started. Or maybe you’ll just have journal cards and photos – that is PERFECTION!
Glenda says
This is my first year doing Project Life. I use Oh Life to help me document my day. It’s amazing how quickly I forget if I don’t write it down daily. I print my photos and then when I have a spare minute or two I just jot down a few details to go with them. As a Virgo with very strong perfectionist behaviour I have given myself permission to just get it in there. Not much in embellishment but I love to tuck in receipts or napkins or even the wrapper off my latest knitting project to show where I’ve been and what I have been up to (I throw these items in a little basket until I need them). This really answers my need to be a memory keeper without a lot of extra supplies. I’ve had a memorable year of losses and change and it satisfies and makes me happy to know I have these times documented.
anna says
agreed. and i’m only 31!
but pl is stressing me out and i’m behind and it’s discouraging. sigh.
i’ve made it to mid april.
a
Donna Tullis says
no kidding…a friend of mine always would ask me ‘hey remember so and so’ and I would look at him with a blank look and he would reply…’oh I forgot your the black hole’ :/ sad but lord its true…I can never remember names, faces I am darn good at. But you really do hit the nail on the head with this one. I don’t post comments much now days, no time, but I read you and I so get you and where you are, I have been there, am there or headed there! you SOOOOOO make me want to do project life, but I honestly do not know when I could possibly squeeze one more thing into my day, but by golly I would love for someone to know what my days consisted of and what was important to me while I was here on this earth. I have no idea about how to do all the digital download stuff – that is technical lingo of the ‘I don’t have time to stop and watch all your, I am certain easy to follow video tutorials’ no time left at the end of 24 hours person that I am. point to this is…I love to read your posts and they always speak to me on some level and I thank you for always being real and sharing it with everyone. oh and my gosh…those beautiful baby lips…precious!!!
ARC says
I loved this post! I wish I had known about PL when my daughter was born in 2009 or at least for her first year in 2010, but only discovered it for 2012.
I, too, love that it’s forcing me to stop and notice the little things. Hubby looks through the album and is reminded of things he would have otherwise forgotten (he doesn’t remember ANY details of anything, really!)
And it lets our parents see more of what day to day life is with their darling grandkids. Without having to live in our house 😀
Jo says
I don’t know if everybody needs to remember the past in the same way I do – it’s like an anchor that keeps me grounded and feeling real – but I can’t imagine being without the pictures, stories, diaries, journals and memories. There’s a time in my life, during those crazy college years, when so much was going on that I didn’t keep track of any of it, not a planner or notebook to be found, and it really hurts my heart that I don’t even know which year I got the chickenpox (was I 22?) or whether that was really the same year that I had an ill-advised, very intense fling with a certain young man (the stressful consequences may have been why I got the chickenpox!). Trying to make sense of those years is impossible because I don’t even know when and what happened!
I don’t think it matters how you do it, although PL is a great tool if it speaks to people as it does to us. But any way that you can tell and re-live your stories, through stories told and retold, letters, written journals, photos and words, scrapbooks, etc will keep the memories strong by treading down and linking those neural pathways or however it works. And I have tried some techniques to recover those memories that have faded, mapping and mentally walking through the past, writing down anything and everything I could remember about people I knew, and it’s amazing what you can link up to (even if you can’t completely trust it). I read a book called “Writing Life Stories” that helped me remember a lot about my childhood and life back home.
But for now, yes, I am also loving Project Life for capturing all those little things.
Cindy L. says
Thanks, Margie. I have a core kit that I bought from the HSN sale and I am going to just start simply this weekend with some photos and journaling cards and see where it takes me!
Kelli says
I wish I’d had a camera when my son was a baby. We have very few photos of him. Now when I have grand kids I think I will give them a camera. I think it will be the best gift ever. They may not think so but I’m sure they will one day.
gingersmith7624@comcast.net says
I to am older and have just begun PL this year. I love it! I document my retired somewhat boring life. Why? So my grandchild will have memories of who I am as a person. Small stuff like my love of Greek yogurt. Big stuff like my faith. All of it is important to leave behind a reminder of who you are. Loved ones will also grow older and not remember, but if you’ve left a glimpse of the real you. It’s there for them to remember. I still scrap the major events like holidays and birthdays. But PL gets to the heart of the matter because it’s everyday. And, you know, every day is a gift, so why not? PL has been an answer to prayer for me. I would get behind with the old way of scrapping. I’d get discouraged and have to push myself to get busy. With PL I’ve organized my scrap room, given a bunch of stuff away, gotten organized, and love doing PL each week.
All I can say is go for it. You won’t be disappointed.
Jenny B. says
Cathy, this is wonderful. I’m sitting her recalling memories from my college days, thinking, “Boy… how much have I forgotten, and how much more will I forget in the next twenty years?” I’m working on a Project Life album for my college years right now, and I’m so glad I started it. It’s hard to decide what to include and what to leave out. Pictures from a Christmas party where I’m wearing Groucho Marx glasses with a nose shaped like a, ahem… male body part? Do I want my sons to see that? Should I pretend it didn’t happen? Or do I just include it and explain that my sense of humor in college was not very mature? Haven’t decided yet.
My current Project Life albums are my creative outlet, so I struggle with being the crazy scrapbook mom. It’s a difficult balance. I love to spend hours making the pages pretty, but my boys want me to get off the computer already and go outside.
Anyway… I appreciate all that you shared.
ChrisyC says
Amen Cathy…a lovely post.
ashley @ cup of chic says
Such a lovely post! I am so behind on PL, but this post is going to get me back on track. 🙂
Heather Wong says
I couldn’t have said it better! Spot on blog post.
Thanks for the reminder of why we do this, why it’s important and why it’s FUN.
(I always felt like the nerd on campus snapping pics at the UW. I have the photos but no journaling -and definitely no stories quite as fun as yours!)
Sarah says
Oh My Stars!
1 – I’m so going to play “Say the Same Thing” in real life with my youth group. Awesome!
2 – Stone Gossard, are you kidding me? Huge PJ fan. OMG! UW rocks!
3 – PL changed my life and I agreed with every word of your PL view. Thanks to you, I won PL the month of my youngest son’s 2nd birthday. So most his life has been documented. I will never be able to Thank You enough for offering the chance to win, and then mailing me my PL kit. I don’t know if I would have started it on my own. THANK YOU! It has changed my life, for real!
4 – You. Are. Awesome!
Sarah says
Okay, so that comment is so cool, its going on a PL note card! 🙂
Karen says
Why do so many of us feel so alone and like we are the only ones who forget or can’t start or get behind? Reading your post and all these comments just shows me how very alike we all are!
I love the idea of Project Life and have all the stuff! but starting ? Not so much. I have tens of thousands of photos of my family but somehow writing down the words and thoughts is sooo much harder than snapping the photos.
I wish I had learned to write things down sooner…I wish I could remember the everyday moments of my life…I wish I could just start now and not feel lost and behind…
Thanks Cathy and friends for inspiring me!!! I will start today!!!!!
kre8tivekate says
Thank you, Cathy! I could not have sid it better myself. When I think of the things I wish I knew about my grandmother, it’s what her everyday dinner looked like; what she had in her purse; whether there were little knick knacks hanging off her car keys. The things that would make me feel connected to her as a woman and as a mother. Those ARE the things I try to capture in my PL, and occasionally PL even makes me capture those things in my All About Me scrapbook, because I hope someday my kids will care. That’s all.
Karyn S says
Thanks Cathy for once again articulating so well exactly how I also feel about PL. I’m in my third year of PL and even looking back over just the last 2years I cant believe how much of the little stuff I have already forgotten. I do sometimes think about the missed opportunity of documenting life in this way over the various stages of my life and imagine having a snapshot like this into our parents lives…. I am so thankful everyday that my children will be able to look back (should they wish to do so!) at our “real” life. Hopefully my kids will pick up this wonderful habit of awareness, observation & gratitude of our daily lives.
J3SS1C4 says
I’m only 27 and I don’t remember half the stuff about my uni days either, so I can well relate to this post. Thank you for putting it in such an easy to understand way. Project life really is an easy way to document the everyday details!
Patricia** says
Love this.
Christine says
I really love your text, your thoughts. That is SO true and it completely echoes what I feel deep inside….
Kirsten J says
Most excellent thoughts. Damn, I’m kicking myself back to PL.
And UW….my son goes there – they’re tearing down the dorms and building new ones 🙁
Although, I have to say his fraternity, while in so many ways a beautiful old, old building, could really use a tear down…..
Kirsten J says
You Cindy’s…how did you get into got into my head?!? I did Project 365 back when it was that…2009?…for 6 months or so. And it’s easily my family’s favorite scrapbook ever. I tried and stumbled on PL a few years later, and thought I’d start fresh with my HSN purchase. But then I suffer from all of your same thoughts and more. Must get back at it. It is truly priceless.
Anne Marie says
You have definately convinced me! Big time.
I just don’t know where to find the time. At least, now I am taking small notes of everyday life anecdotes, for future use. Perhaps I can do a Once a month, where I gather some of all the small big things tha has happened.
Thank you!
Stacie says
perfect
Glenda Thorne says
All I can state is ” I concur whole hardheartedly with your statement”. I just retired and decided I would keep a journal, well it lasted 1 week then we went on vacation ( I did take my journal with good intentions)and I blew it. Your thoughts have made me dig my journal book out of the unpacked bag and to start writing again. Thanks, Cathy.