As our nation mourned the loss of so many of of her heroes on the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 a few weeks ago, I was reminded of this scrapbook layout. My sister-in-law, Saci, sent me these touching photos after she visited New York City just days after the terrorist attacks. When I look at layouts that I designed many years ago, I often have a critical eye. Today, I would have probably inked the edges of the white lettering of the title, as well as the journaling tag and the cut-out of the truck with the American flag, and I may have used more sophisticated embellishments in place of the stickers, but I love that I preserved this moment of history in the making on my scrapbook pages.
As scrapbook artists, we are memory keepers and historians as well. Future generations will be just as interested in our tragedies as in our triumphs, so it is important that we include them in our scrapbooks.
These moving photographs, with the remnants of the Twin Towers still smoldering, vacant shop windows covered in heavy dust, and the posters of missing loved ones lining fences and walls, capture the sadness of the city in the aftermath of the attacks, all too well.
The strong presence of the American flag in these photos is a wonderful reminder of the patriotism that swelled in all of our hearts during those trying days. The bottom of the tag has a direct quote from Saci in Hungarian, which is how she spoke it to me -it translates: "The city was plastered with photographs of the missing."
From a design point of view, I wish I had done some things a little differently on this layout. I see now, that I accidentally switched from the singular to the plural in my journaling and my handwriting could have been a bit straighter, but even those minor flaws help tell the story of how distraught I was when I put these pages together. -And that's why we scrapbook, isn't it? To tell our authentic stories.
God bless America, and all her fallen heroes...we will never forget. -Enikö
Please visit my website at: Enikö's Scrapbooks
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