Book-in-a-Day 20: The Women Who Raised Me

Title: The Women Who Raised Me
Structure: Photo Album
Dimensions: 5 x 4

Video of my process.

This 20th book is bound to be one of my favorites. It's a photo album with pictures of some of the women who raised me and the lessons I learned from the. Each photo has a one liner that starts with the words: The Importance of...

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This was an interesting experiment with gel medium because most of it didn't seem to want to hold and the front window has severe brush strokes in it from where the gel medium dried. 

Then there is the way the book doesn't open fully by the time I get to the 4th or 5th page. That's a bit disappointing, but all in all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book because of the content. 

A picture of my AMAZING mom!!

Each picture is the same size and placed on the page in the same location. That continuity adds to the narrative of the book by creating an expected repetition and cadence as you read through the one liners.  

A picture of my FANTASTIC mother-in-law.

I found this process to be really empowering. Looking back through old photos and thinking about my life as a girl, a young woman and now the adult woman I am today, I remembered lots of lessons that, at the time, I didn't know were lessons. 

Because I didn't want to falsely represent my life, I included some non-examples in the book too. By that, I mean I included a few women who didn't necessarily teach me the lesson, but whose actions taught me to pay attention to how I navigate the world. For example, there is a picture of my Grandma Carrie -- she was a strong, caring, and proud woman, but she lived an unhealthy life and towards the end of her life, she was very ill. I learned the importance of good health from her, not because she was the picture of health, but because she wasn't. There are several others in there like that, because those lessons are just as important as the ones that come from positive choices. 

This book reminded me of how blessed I am to have so many wonderful women in my life and how age is not really what matters. There are pictures in the book of women who are younger than me, like the girls I coached when I taught high school. At the time, they were all between 14 and 18 and I learned many, many, many life lessons from them :-). 

Book 20 will surely stay on the list of my top 10 throughout this year. It's a keeper!!!

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.