story

I have been dragging around my life in boxes and totes for the past eleven years. I must admit that I’m a sentimental fool and would be wise to purge some of my collection…however. When time just stops, you want to freeze everything in that moment. Encapsulate the memories, the memento’s… anything that proves they were alive. That you’re alive. What can be hung, is hanging. What can be displayed is out. What I have custody of that cannot be accessed easily is tucked away and has been under my bed. Close and hidden. At the end of 2024 while looking for something else, I ran across “The Bacon Books.” There were four total and the last one was not finished. WHEN did she have time to do all this art?? I sat down, read them and laughed. And cried. I got up the courage to ask a couple of friends, “do you think this is a good idea?” “do you think it’s OK to want to share this with the world?” “am I acting ethically?” They both gave their endorsement. It was definitively something I thought long and hard about and committed to prayer. My friend Andy is already a successful author and she hooked me up with the best graphic designer in the area. The morning of our first meeting I was a wreck! I felt naked and afraid. This was a very personal thing I was purposefully attempting to make public. Was I ready? Would I ever be? That morning, true to form my phone shared a photo memory. The picture was one of Sarah, of course and she had this LOOK. The look said “ well, mom it’s about time.” I grabbed my Sarah Grace scrapbook of art and headed out. I met Steph from Gothom City Graphics and shared my story. We were both in tears at the end then I shared the album. Upon opening it we discovered that the same photo from that morning was right there on the very first page. More tears. Then it was easy. Then it was fun. She was right there helping us and creating again. And so was I. We were both finally out of the box.