I never knew my grandmother. Tragically, she died of tuberculosis in 1932, when my mother was just 13 years old. I didn’t ask my mother too much about her at first, but then one day when my mother was 73 (almost my age now) I asked about the day my grandmother died. To my shock and dismay, my mother began to cry.

Having been always quite in control of her emotions, I didn’t know what to think. However, that opened the door to many discussions. Of course, my mother wasn’t upset with me - she just couldn’t help but feel these emotions. We held each other; I am forever grateful for those moments.

Now, years later, my mom is gone as well - passed in 2016 at the age of 96. For as long as I can remember, she’d kept my grandmother’s old cookbook in her recipe drawer. Well, now this book was mine. I also had letters a great aunt (like a grandmother to me) had saved. My Grandmother wrote these letters to her, most of them during the last year of her life. I wanted to do something with them.

I took the recipe book apart and scanned every page and item in it. I also scanned the letters and envelopes. Thanks to the tools in Historian and Artisan, I was able to enhance the scans well enough so they could be read easily.

I started and re-started my album a couple times until it felt right to me. It was a labor of love from me to her memory. I did this to honor a life well-lived for a woman who was well-loved but didn’t have the privilege of living long enough to see her children grow up or ever meet her grandchildren.

To my surprise, my sons, daughters, and even grandchildren seem very interested in this collection of recipes and anecdotes from long ago. I feel so happy and accomplished to have finished this heartfelt project. No matter how long you have procrastinated (like me), NOW is the time to get those projects done! You will be so thankful that you did.