In celebration of Jamaica, Independence Day, I did a spread in my notebook to document, my grandfather and grandmother and my mother . My grandfather and grandmother are on the right side of the spread, and my mother, who is 91 now is on the left side of the spread.
My grandfather came to England in the 1950s. The early 50s I think around 1950 or 51 and he worked in Westminster in London as a toilet attendant where he would clean the toilets, and assist the public using the toilets. He lived in one bedroom in a shared house, and for the five years he was here in England, he sent for the majority of his children and then they dispersed throughout the UK and America. All in all that was about six of his 14 children that he sent for in that five-year period and set them up, and then he left and then went to Miami to work in the sugarcane fields for another five years, and then he returned to Jamaica , when I was 12 years old, my mum took me to Jamaica to meet my grandfather and my grandmother and my extended family living out there
When I met my grandfather, the first thing he did was take me to a field surrounding the house where I saw a little orange tree and with a wooden ladder next to the tree. My Grandfather said that was for me to climb up and pick an orange and he said to me that he didn’t have any money to give us or even have any expensive gifts to give us but he said each time a grandchild was born, he would plant a tree and as the tree grew, he would think of us and he planted a tree for every grandchild that was born. It wasn’t till I was a grown adult that I saw the significance of what he said and how much he meant to me that even though he didn’t see us on a daily basis, the connection with Trees was enough and was a comfort to him.
Journalling is a great way to document precious memories, or even just a daily journal to document about things that we do in our lives and it’s just nice to take your time and maybe put a picture or photo, in your journal then use your stamps and your inks to just bring those memories to life. I hope you enjoy looking at the spread and I hope to add some more soon . These are the supplies I used.