Every Picture Tells a Story
Point A:
I am not sure how one goes about making up lost time. In reunion this is especially true. We had this instant connection but knew very little about one another. Our common interests and similarities were such a shock to me. I always wondered if I looked like my biological family but never really thought much about whether we have common interests.
Thank God we both loved to scrapbook! Early on in our reunion we decided that twice a year we would go together to a scrapbooking retreat. We would spend all weekend scrapbooking and just talking. I truly believe that these short three days twice a year helped us have a successful reunion.
We got to learn so much about our families’ lives while we watched each other make scrapbook after scrapbook. You watched me make my parents’ 40th Wedding Anniversary album and I watched you make my brothers’ childhood albums. You got to see me scrapbook my wedding and I got to see you scrapbook about your childhood home. But beyond the pages of those books, we spent countless hours talking. Late into the night (well actually early into the morning) we shared dialogue few get the chance to share. No topic was off limits and you afforded me the opportunity to ask so many questions about my beginnings. We continued it for several years and the whole time I thought we were just having fun. I had no idea we were making special memories.
Point B:
Our weekend scrapbook retreats will always be a very cherished memory of mine.
Looking back, I know that I was excited to be spending time for just "us" and I definitely had photos that needed to be put into albums!!! I remember wondering just a little if it would be painful to watch you put together a scrapbook, any scrapbook, because it was your life — without me. But after a very short time, my worries changed. Would looking at the pictures of my boys growing up from birth through adulthood trigger feelings around your adoption and me? It was another uncharted territory we were embarking.
But little did I know how much those times would help shape our reunion success story.
It seems as if when we started unpacking our own boxes of photos and gluing them into our scrapbooks another more important, strong bond was forming. The love between a birthmom and her grown daughter.
🖼️ Image Descriptions
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Image 1: A sepia-toned photo of an open scrapbook album with scattered black-and-white photographs across the table. Overlaid text reads: “We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun!” Bottom right corner shows the With No Direction logo.
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Image 2: A nostalgic scrapbook-style collage with open books, old photos, a polka-dotted wooden heart, and a central picture of two smiling women together. Overlaid text reads: “Every picture tells a story.”