Tough Year Photo Album – Make the Obstacle the Solution

We can’t see the grandmothers this year. You know why. You probably have a similar problem. I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to make it one degree less sucky. I had an idea that we could make them a photo album. I used to do this every year and they loved it. It’s so easy when you have a toddler. Toddlers are adorable. It practically makes itself. We aren’t as cute as we used to be, but I bet the grandmothers won’t care.

I quickly gathered up the mish mash of 2020 and imported to Shutterfly. They do their best to “help” get your book going and immediately I had some spreads to look at. They put the absolute worst photo on the cover. It’s an iPhone selfie of us three all masked up. You can’t see any facial features except eyes and I’m thwarting that with dark sunglasses. Everyone looks awkward and unhappy. This was my Aha! moment. Lean into the awful! Make the obstacle the solution! This stupid photo album would showcase our stupid year. I’ll keep the masks on the cover!

Here’s some of the text that accompanied the spreads:

• 2020 was a tough year

• We had to learn to wear masks

• We were online a lot – so many pictures of us staring into screens. Normally super boring but now thematically on point!

• We also played games and did puzzles. We wish we could have done some of them with you. – Still wishing that.

• We made a lot of treats and watched the first woman become VP – We happened to have a photo of us watching the Biden/Harris acceptance speech with freshly baked cookies on the table. Otherwise those two categories would have stayed separate.

There was other text, but you get the idea. It was actually fun to play up the negative. Black humor is a weapon against bleakness. That’s what creativity is really good for, turning poop into fertilizer. It’s a transformative act that takes the worst and makes it the best. Every tv show and movie is built around conflict. Drama sucks but it’s interesting when filtered through story so take your drama and make it amuse you. I know our grandmas will like it. They are the ones who taught us to view the glass as half full.