Telling the Stories of Home with Words and Photos

This is a guest post from team member Molly Porter.

It’s crazy how quickly life can change these days. It’s exciting and scary and fun and bittersweet all at the same time. I’ve been dealing with all of these emotions lately as I prepare to move away from my  hometown, Chicago, IL, to a brand new place I’ve only been to once, Austin, TX, in just a couple short weeks. It certainly helps that I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Austin, and that I’ll be skipping out on winter this year, but I can’t help but feel a little bit sad about all the wonderful family, friends and things we’re leaving behind here in Chicago. Like I said, exciting and scary and fun and, most of all, bittersweet.

All of this happened very quickly too. We were given 8 days notice that we needed to be out of our apartment (pretty sure that’s not legal but we won’t go there) and that my husband needed to start his new job right away. Although it’s all working out, the timing really did not give us that last chance to visit our favorite places in Chicago before he left.

Enter: scrapbooking. I really could not be more thankful that I stumbled upon this hobby a couple of years ago. I’ve been doing Project Life® since the beginning of 2012 and I am so happy to have our favorite Chicago memories documented in real-time. A lot of the stories I’ve preserved in my album seemed minor at the time, but I know that I’ll enjoy them on those days I’m feeling homesick down in Austin.

Prompts to Document Home in the Moment

1. Photograph your guilty pleasure or your escape from reality.
2. Photograph you or a family member in your home, just as it is right now. No staging, no cleaning up.
3. Photograph the seasons.
4. Photograph those details that make your home (or hometown) unique. For me, it’s my commute to work.
5. Photograph decorations in your home that you love.

Even now as I look back at these photos, I feel so happy and it excites me for the future. As we start this next chapter in our lives, I know the memory keeping will continue. I’m never worried about forgetting my home (wherever that may be) because I will forever have a way to store, and share, the details of our ever-changing lives.