Open Source: 95th Birthday Present

Every year, my extended family picks one night to convene at Magnolia’s Restaurant in Bethany Beach for a reunion dinner. With aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and cousins-to-be from all around the country, it’s definitely a celebration.

And a loud one at that.

This year, we had something extra to celebrate. Next month my grandmother turns 95 years old! When someone has been on this planet for 95 orbits around the sun, they’ve pretty much seen it all as far as birthday gifts go. But my Aunt Julie came up with a great idea to make this birthday memorable.

Each member of the family was tasked with filling an 8 1/2 by 11″ sheet of paper. It could include anything– pictures, drawings, a printout of memories or well wishes. Some people mailed their pages in advance. Meanwhile, some of us worked on ours together at the beach house.

Mom, my cousin Melanie and my cousin Frank work on their scrapbook pages

My cousin Allison’s page is on the left. My cousin Melanie works on her page on the right

Before the big event, my Aunt Julie compiled all the contributions into a big 12″ by 12″ scrapbook. The end result was beautiful and eclectic and full of memories and affection. The birthday girl seemed to appreciate it!

Birthday Girl is all smiles!

Next time you are tasked with finding a birthday present for a ninety-five year old, keep the scrapbook idea in mind.

Note: I suspect this notion just may work for other birthdays as well. 🙂

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