YOU are the Puzzle Piece!!!

Hello All!

I want to tell you why I feel scrapbooking is so important, to everybody. I believe that each person's experiences shape who they are and who they become. I believe that through scrapbooking, we get to write our own sort of "history book", and show what things have helped us to get to the place where we are now. And EVERY experience helps shape us. Just as every person with whom we come in contact. Let me explain what I mean, in MY personal experience with this:

The other day I found a single jigsaw puzzle piece in a parking lot when I went to the grocery. It kind of stood out, bright blue against the black asphalt, and I bent over to pick it up. I found it sort of mystical to come across one single puzzle piece... I've always described my life as a puzzle-piece sort of life, made up of bits and pieces here and there. And I think I have finally come to the realization that it's ALL about pieces. Our lives are made up of so many little pieces, and each one, however frustrating or ecstatic, is an important piece in the BIG PICTURE called our "Life". Imagine for a moment, that you are sitting down putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and that it is one of those puzzles that you have to try each piece here and there, and then put off to the side for a bit until you can figure out where it really goes. When you find where that piece goes, you're elated! Finally, you put all the pieces together, only to realize that there is ONE piece missing! You cannot complete your puzzle now, all because of ONE piece missing!!! Well, I want to tell you, WE are ALL one piece to the big jigsaw puzzle of Life, and regardless of how insignificant we may feel at times, we ARE in fact, indispensible. We ALL make up the big picture of Life. And today I received confirmation of that, most unexpectedly!

My sister called me this afternoon and told me she had been chatting with a friend earlier, and that her friend told her she thought my sister had very strong roots in and tendencies for advocacy--for all sorts of things. My sister now lives in Minneapolis and is a Rape Crisis Counselor, and while living here in New Orleans, she was a nurse in the CARE Center (Children At Risk Evaluation Center) where she worked with children who had been molested and abused. She was also a volunteer with New Orleans Cares, at the Homeless Center and Food Bank, and did Graveyard Restoration for the Indigent. To sum it up, she cares A LOT, and she gives A LOT. Well, of course, *I* knew all of this already, but what she told me next really took me off guard. She said that growing up (she is 8 years younger than I am) and seeing me rearing my son (Emery) and fighting for rights for people with disabilities and helping people overcome obstacles of many kinds, and NEVER giving up, helped HER to become the same way, and to help her to grow into the person she is today. I was totally, TOTALLY humbled and stunned. She asked me if I was aware of just how many lives I had touched. Of course, you know me, I began to cry, overcome with emotion. No, I was NOT aware of anything of that sort! I had absolutely no idea that me, in my own little way, had provided the one puzzle piece in her life that helped her to form HER big picture, and in turn be a puzzle piece herself in other peoples' lives, in THEIR big pictures.

I truly don't consider myself all that great for what I did. AT ALL!!! I thought I was just being a regular mom, trying to help my child who had been born with limited abilities to live as "normal" a life as I could. I DEFINITELY didn't see myself as any sort of role model! But she felt I was, and she gave ME the credit!!!

Please know that whomever you are, whatever you do, YOU ARE IMPORTANT in this big picture called "LIFE". YOU ARE THE PUZZLE PIECE that completes someone else's life, even if you don't know it! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!

At this difficult time (poor economy, Gulf coast disaster, troops still overseas, etc.), I wish you ALL happiness, wealth, prosperity, and most of all, I wish you all the understanding that YOU are important, even when you don't realize it.
Until next time, happy scrapping and stamping!
Dee