Journal of Old Family Pics

I finally made a journal for my family's old pics. They were sitting in a box for years, and I had done nothing with them. Part of the reason was that I just never got to it, but also I just didn't want to rehash much of what had happened to my family and much of my childhood experiences. My parents were both holocaust survivors. My dad was very inspirational, as he had been in a concentration camp, but yet he had such a positive outlook on life. He always was funny, had a smile on his face, and enjoyed each and every minute of his life till he died in 1985 of a massive heart attack .He built much of our furniture, made signs like the Macy sign in NYC and worked hard to finally start a fabric store in Philadelphia from scratch in our basement. As a little girl, I was with him each and every day there handing him tools and watching in amazement as the store slowly evolved. My mom , on the other hand, had not survived the holocaust emotionally at all. She was a very talented artist, poet, seamstress, and businesswoman, but she just had not survived the experience that well. I guess it was a matter that everyone's emotional reactions are different. My love of painting, writing poetry and sewing came from her, so I am thankful for all of that!
I have been working on this journal for a few days now, and I have dedicated it to my parents and all the family that were lost in the holocaust. In each pocket that I made, I wrote poems, a letter to my dad, a tribute to both my parents and other family members. I was very happy that I finally finished it. The pictures are of my family on my mother's side, as my dad had not recovered any pics of his family, and that was his great regret. I have also included a sketch that I did years ago of my grandfather, and I remember that I had worked very hard to capture him perfectly, and my mom tearfully said that I had. Here is the page with the pic. I used artists pencils to do the drawing of my grandfather.

As I had read Anne Frank's diary many times, I included her too and some of her famous quotes with a drawing that I did this week. Coincidentally, my mom hid underground during the war with her sister, and she wrote a diary, which was published. The original is in the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel, and a copy is in the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

I do miss both of my parents, but as I was daddy's little girl, I especially miss him and always will. It is always hard to lose any parent, no matter what age it happens, but especially when one only has a small family left. You can imagine how special my relationship with Joe is and how important my current family is to me.

Joe took pics of the pages of the journal. He has felt badly for me in the making of this journal, but I told him that I was happy that I did it for my family.

The weather has been sunny, but we have had fall temperatures. We are both enjoying beautiful long walks, and we are spending a quiet weekend. Hope all is well with you all!