Keeping Old Memories Alive
I am a dreamer. I like to think and remember and wish. Sometimes things I want to do – in reality – never come to fruition for a variety of reasons. I have a lot of things to do in my life but perhaps if I stop thinking about doing them and just do them, I’d have a LOT shorter list. Le sigh.
One thing I haven’t done that I am quite ashamed of is making a keepsake box for my Father-in-Law. See, he is a 100% service-connected Vietnam Vet (who served THREE tours) who is currently living in Argentina. He GAVE me ALL HIS STUFF for his granddaughter, Brooke, and I —–didn’t know how to make it look nice.
I didn’t just get his war memorabilia, I also have his father’s (my Bob’s granddad), his German citizen mother’s documents, my own husband’s Army stuff and things from his mom’s side of the family. So yeah! How do you ORGANIZE THAT? Well, I did. In a BOX. Then I saw this website about something called Boxes to Books. This is what I needed. But how to begin?
1. Organize! I pulled everything together and included all the wonderful things of memorabilia I had specific for Bob’s dad! I organized pictures, medals, paperwork and -most importantly- WROTE about each item. Now, Meghann told me that my stuff was so neatly organized it made the process easy – BUT, I really didn’t have to do that. She’ll take boxes of just STUFF and will sort and organize on her end!
I mean look at this cool picture of Bob’s dad in Vietnam: 
2. Ship! This was the hardest part. Seeing all your valuables get boxed up and shipped to Meghann. I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie! Fortunately, there is tracking for the package and I had to trust it would all work out.
3. Wait! It takes a lot of time to make a professional looking online scrapbook which is why I contracted it out.
4. Log In to Your Scrapbook! The main reason I went this route is to give all of Bob’s family a chance to check out the scrapbook of Bob’s dad’s military life. He was born in Berlin to an American Service member and a German mother. His three tours in Vietnam were tough yet had some fun moments as he was able to explore and had a few days of down time here and there. It was cool to see all of that. Brooke and Brie might be too young to appreciate this now (although Brooke loved seeing it and asked tons of questions about Papa), they will have an opportunity to have this scrapbook digitally for life. Amazing.
Check it out! Boxes to Books instructions on the process available here at BoxestoBooks!
Want a real non-digital scrapbook? Meghann can do that, too! Pricing is available on her website.
My Take?
Sample of our Front Page!
So, of course, I’m a fan of Meghann’s scrapbooks now. It was professionally done, she treated the items as if they were her own and I got everything back that I shipped. Did I mention the scrapbook? AMAZING! I’d show it to you if it wasn’t so personal. If you find yourself with boxes and boxes of memorabilia and too overwhelmed (or like me, not technologically savvy), this is an awesome way to bring your boxes to digital life for all to see.
Oh – and the adorable Meghann thought it was important to mention that there are cheaper services elsewhere (now who does that?) Her service is to do individualized and personal albums made from the heart. And, boy, does it show!
About the Founder, Meghann Collard: Being a working momma of two little ones myself, I know time is scarce and the pesky list of unfinished to-do’s seems never-ending. Our Boxes to Books service is an excellent solution. Even those of us fully living in the digital age have cases of old photos and memorabilia we’d like to dust off and bring into the modern world, share with our families and preserve safely – but not-so-surprisingly, most of us never find the time.
www.collardstoryalbums.com/boxestobooks.php
List Price: $ Pricing Varies per Box Size
Momma's Bacon 