Camp WaHaNaHa is where it all began. It was the summer after I had finished 4th
grade. In honor of my first trip away from home to summer camp, my mom
bought me my first camera. It was a Kodak 110 with film shaped like two barrels
attached to a bridge…a far cry from my sleek, 5.1 megapixel digital camera that I
take with me everywhere I go now.
I took great pictures that summer of new friends, the campground and a petting
zoo nearby. What no one could have predicted though, was how important my
camera and pictures would become to me. As a military brat, I moved every 1-3
years. My photographs literally became my memories. I filled album after album
with pictures of my school, friends and home in the hopes that these people, places
and feelings would never leave my heart.
My first bike, first crush, first car and first prom date are all recorded for me to
visit again and again. My children love flipping through the pages to see mom as a
child. It brings back memories and I’m able to tell them so much more about my
life growing up. For me, the pictures help me to feel connected to myself.
When my husband began residency, I continued my tradition of capturing our lives
on film. I integrated the pictures of residency dinners, call rooms and dad in
scrubs into our regular family album. I tried to capture as many positive memories
as possible. I admit that the pictures I took of the kids running around the call
room while we waited for “Papa” to get back from seeing another patient could be
interpreted as being a tad cynical. But it did capture the moment.
Keeping these pictures and organizing them into albums helped me to feel more
positive about my life and the medical training journey in general. I didn’t need a
scrapbook to remember how I felt when I found out we were starting residency in
Central PA or the seemingly endless months of q3 call. But putting my pictures
into albums did help me to discover what was good about that time in our lives.
The most intimidating part of getting started with your scrapbook is…getting
started. Recording your memories from the medical training years can be an
enjoyable and even cathartic experience. Here are some hints to get you started:
1. Get Organized
Before you can begin creating your photo album, you will need to sort through the
pictures that you already have. If you have been keeping up with your albums or
have kept your photographs chronologically organized, you are ahead of the game.
If, on the other hand, you have boxes and bags of pictures that need to be sorted,
the task can seem overwhelming. To get things under control, you will need a
picture storage box (or shoe box), and some index cards. Label each box by year
and then separate your pictures initially by year only. Don’t worry about making
sure that your pictures are categorized by month or event. Once your photos have
been separated by year, you can go back and do the fine tuning. Use your index
cards to label the event, record the names of individuals in the pictures or to write
out your memory of the event. If it has been a long time since you looked at the
picture you may be disappointed to discover that you can’t remember when some
photos were taken. Start sorting your pictures using major holidays and birthdays
as your guide. The rest of the pictures will slowly fall into place.
2. Choose an Album
Determine whether or not you want to set aside an album dedicated to the medical
training years alone or whether you want to integrate the photos and memories into
your family album. This may influence your choice of album size and color.
There are three types of scrapbooks available:
Spiral bound album: The pages of a spiral bound scrapbook are attached
essentially by a spiral ring. These albums do not allow you to add or remove
pages. In addition, the spiral rings often snag or become undone.
Strap-hinge album: Strap-hinge albums come with a certain number of “straphinge”
pages. These pages are constructed of card-stock paper and come in white,
off-white, black, pink and blue. The sides of the pages have two hinges that can
be easily added or removed from the album. Page protectors can be purchased to
cover the pages when you are done.
Post-bound album: The post-bound album is held together on the inside by
removable screws. Scrapbook pages can be created and then placed into the pageprotectors
that are included as the pages of these albums. Just like with the straphinge
album, pages can be easily added and removed.
Whatever your choice, make sure that the items are archival quality. This means
that they are lignin free and acid free. This will maintain the integrity of your
photographs for generations to come.
3. Get Started
Choose a beginning point for your album. This could be the first day of the New
Year, the start of school in the Fall or the beginning of a new post graduate
training year. Select photos that you want to include and then begin scrapping:
Crop: Crop your photos using an inexpensive tool designed to evenly cut off
unwanted edges. In addition, you may want to use a corner-rounding tool to round
out the corners of your photographs.
Lay-out: Place the photos on the page and organize them so that you can come
back later and add stickers, borders and a journal entry.
Attach: Once you are comfortable with the lay-out of your pictures, use a taperoller
specifically designed for photos to attach them to your page. Don’t use a
glue stick or rubber cement. They will not dry evenly and they may even ruin your
photos.
Journal: Once you have put all of your photos in your album, go back to the
beginning and begin journaling. Include the names of all of the individuals in the
pictures. Add places and dates where you can. Most important though is that you
narrate the story behind your pictures. This is, after all, the story of your lives.
Embellish: Add stickers, borders or backgrounds to pages that you would like to
enhance. Don’t get lost in the overwhelming choices available for scrapbooking.
Retail shops are full of expensive stickers, die-cuts and pages that can really cut
into your pocketbook. Choose a single ‘theme’ for an album and shop only for
what you need.
The best embellishments, of course, are free. Press a flower from your garden
between the pages of book and include it in your scrapbook. Use paper with the
letterhead from the residency program or include a napkin from that favorite
restaurant.
Protect: Once your pages are complete, add page-protectors to ensure that the
pages aren’t smudged or ruined by sticky fingers or spills.
Take a picture every month of something positive about medical training. If you
get to the end of the month and you haven’t experienced a single positive event to
capture, consider taking things into your own hands. Plan a family or couple event
that you can add to your scrapbook. Am I suggesting creating a memory? Yes.
At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with realizing you’re in a slump and
taking action to pull yourself out of it. Consider this an opportunity to make a
positive memory and to boost your moral.
Also, consider reframing your lives as they are happening. Instead of lamenting
the fact that your spouse’s call schedule has prevented them from spending time
with the kids, take a snapshot when they all fall asleep on the sofa together with
your spouse and cherish that memory. Alternatively, take your camera with you
to the hospital when your spouse has call and take pictures of the call room, the
cafeteria and your spouse in their scrubs. You can even have someone snap a shot
of the two of you together. It may not feel like it now, but these pictures will mean
a lot in the years to come.
My scrapbooks have helped to preserve the good memories that we shared during
residency and fellowship. We finished with medical training more than 4 years
ago. During that crazy piece of our life, I am glad I took the time to put together
photo albums. When my children sit down and open one up, I know it was time
well spent.