Success

I have worked with a client for over four years now, tackling various projects in our many appointments together. We’ve worked in her attic, purging old furniture and bedding. We’ve tackled her kitchen, throwing out old spices and reorganizing her dishes. Our Mount Everest, though, has been her large collection of family history, memorabilia, and photographs. 

My client is the unofficial historian and collector of her family’s story. Her great aunt’s wedding invitation from 1905? Check. Her father’s college albums from the 1920’s? Check. Slides from her sister’s many international adventures? Check. My goodness, the amount of family memories stashed in her house is both astounding and overwhelming. So, for the last few years, we have been primarily focused on purging and organizing her family memories. 

We started with a family tree and dove in. It took many sessions, but we eventually found the highlights and created two family history albums. Next on the list, was capturing her father’s college albums. They were beautiful–thick black construction paper with pristine white handwriting, labeling every picture. Unfortunately, at 100 years old, they were starting to disintegrate. Before they were completely ruined, we worked together and recreated those books, using an online photo book website. 

All the albums have turned out great, but I have been the main driver on the technology side of it all.. editing photos, uploading them, and typing information to develop the book. My client has been right by my side, but at 78 years young, I was the one who quickly figured out how to use the program and make it work efficiently for us. 

Fast forward to this summer–she wanted to create a memory book for her sister’s 85th birthday. Time was short, especially with our personal vacations. We somehow always manage to have vacations that never overlap! With that being said, my client and I got started on the album, but ultimately, I left it in her hands to keep the momentum going and do as much as she could before I returned for our next appointment. 

Imagine my shock and awe when she emailed me the day before our appointment to explain that she was 98% done with the book. I just needed to review and make a few finishing touches on it! I was impressed! I realized in that moment that all along, she had been listening to me as I worked on previous books and had been watching me through the process! This is called transferral of skills and my client got an A+. Not only was she able to create most of the book herself, she was so proud of herself and her achievement! I gave her a high five, she clicked the order button, and two weeks later, the book arrived before her sister’s birthday party. What a great success story!