Stacks of Paper Come Full Circle

Fifty years ago: I played a lot in a dollhouse in the backyard. Not with dolls or toys, but paper. My dad would often stop by his best friend's printing company at the end of the day for coffee. They visited as good friends do and then my dad would go to the cutting room and pick up paper scraps of tablets, colored paper, etc. He brought home a box full of paper once a week. I was allowed to have round-tip scissors, a jar of glue with a brush attached to the lid and crayons. I was only about 5 years old and cannot remember exactly what I did with all the paper I kept in neat little stacks, but I do know I loved playing with it and stayed in the dollhouse for hours at a time!

What is my love and passion? Paper, stacks of paper. I cannot have too much. I have caught on to the inchies craze, but three by three is about the smallest pads I work with. Anna Griffin's eleven by seventeen pads are the largest. I fall for every Brenda Pinnick design on QVC. I also buy Provo Craft Slabs, DCWV Stacks, Making Memories Pads, the Paper Studio Packs, and on and on.

My dad recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Sadly for him, he has outlived many lifelong friends. His party was a small gathering of family and the elders and staff at the wonderful home he lives. One friend did come to his party, and even with my dad's advanced dementia, he recognized and knew the name of his friend. They sold newspapers on opposite corners in downtown San Angelo, Texas, when they were 11 years old. They both grew up with the same career and family goals. They traveled together on trips to Las Vegas when times were good at their businesses and their wives were very good friends.

They joked at the party about who was going to outlive who and which one is the oldest. It was a very joyous time for my dad (and me) and I believe he actually understood that it was his birthday and his best friend was there to celebrate. A friend he had visited every afternoon after work for coffee at the printing company. A friend who I realized at that moment, how very special he is to me as well.

Do what you love and love what you do!

-Molly