How are you honoring, while containing, your treasures?

Anyone else out there have a house full of kid "treasures?" Trophies, awards, treasured crafts, etc? While it's hard to imagine ever parting with them, I've been trying to create a way to honor all of them - just not in the big package in which they exist.

I've tackled this before in another blog about artworks, but now carrying it a bit farther, I've decided to tackle 3-dimensional objects. There are several reasons for this project, but the big one is that I want these things to be remembered. Why did you get a trophy in 2nd grade? What did that sculpture represent that you created in 7th grade? Those are the types of things that as people get older, those memories are gone.

I decided to recently tackle this, because you know, we haven't been able to do much with Covid and the shut down of our normal lives. I started off realizing I needed to have a light box to take photos. My husband had created one before for other projects we had photographed, but since that one was tattered and torn, I decided to invest in one that could work for a while - and hopefully will be of benefit for client projects.

Our son is a collector of objects, sentimental type things, from places we've traveled to since he was born. By doing beautiful photographs of the art, he can at some point take the time to write a little something about it, before his reasoning disappears. Those objects may get lost some days, but the memories won't. With our daughter, we will be doing the same. I'm envisioning even incorporating trip photos within some of this - again to try to contain the physical space things take up in our lives. Good to have lived through so many amazing adventures, but my attempts to tame the treasures in their room is my ultimate goal.

Side note: This really became a focus after cleaning out my parents' attic. The things my parents treasured throughout the years were placed in boxes never to be seen in our attic. To have some way of remembering and honoring those treasures, before they were tucked away in the attic, would have been quite special. My goal this summer is to continue the cleanup of my brother's room. He passed away quite unexpectedly a bit over 4 years ago. His treasures are still in his room from childhood. I'm not sure that I can really know what all of them meant, but to photograph them and put them into a manageable format (as in sending them so some sort of digital picture frame) is my goal. Seeing those treasures would truly benefit those who loved him: our family.

Take the time to honor those treasures. Talk about them and honor them before putting them in a box (as I say that, it kind of reminds me of Woody being shelved in the Toy Story movies our kids grew up with). Don't shelve all of those treasures - honor them. And let me know how My Foto Pal can help.