Archiver's Contest

I got an email from Archiver's saying that they were having a "Share Your Story" contest: Write an essay, 500 words or less, about how scrapbooking and/or memory preservation has affected or helped develop a special bond with a friend or family member in your life. Include a photo of you together with the person or people in your story. The prize is: A scrapbooking weekend for four at the Archiver’s store location of his or her choice including reserved seating in Archiver’s workroom Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, including 4 free seats at Archiver’s Friday and Saturday night ScrapMania, and one $100 Archiver’s Gift card. Total value of prize package is $220.00. All prizes are awarded "AS IS" and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, expressed or implied, except as provided by the manufacturer. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

I thought "what the heck" and decided to write an essay and submit it. Below is my submission and the picture I sent with it.

My favorite person to scrapbook with is my wonderful Mother-in-Law, Marge. She and I have always been close but we spend lots of time scrap booking and shopping for scrap booking items together. My mother was not involved in my wedding at all. Marge was with me every step of the way helping me get it all planned. We started scrapping together after my wedding in 2004. She and I sat side by side and made my beautiful 80 page wedding scrapbook together. I didn’t have a good mom growing up and she didn’t have any daughters, so this relationship is perfect for both of us and scrap booking is a great way for us to spend time together, chat and have fun! My husband and I are in the process of adopting and, once again, she and I are beating the pavement looking for the perfect papers and embellishments for the baby book and working side by side to make this book perfect for our little boy! She was always a bit apprehensive to get involved in scrapping but now she sees how much fun it can be, ESPECIALLY when we do it together, so she has embraced it completely now! I find that most of the time, she is the yin to my yang and vice versa, as we work on pages together. When one of gets stuck, the other can look at the page and help to figure out what it needs to be completed. Very rarely do we go shopping for scrapping supplies without the other. We have just as much fun shopping as we do making the pages! We are both now also into making cards. We send pictures back and forth to each other of the cards that we make and sometimes even send them to each other. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the “mother” I always wanted and to have this great hobby to share with her!