Fat Collage Journal

 

Greetings

In 2021, when I decided to downsize and sell the family home of 29 years, it took a lot of work.  I methodically went through all of the items accumulated over those years.  The closets, the attic, the crawlspace, garage and storage shed and even the backyard were filled to the brim.  It took me a year to sort through it all while my new house was being built.  I took numerous loads to the local dump and many others to the donation centers. In the midst of this struggle for organization, I found every greeting card and/or written letter we had ever received.  Back in the days of long-distance phone calls, mostly in the 1980’s when I lived in South Carolina, I received numerous hand-written letters from my family in TN.  There were several large tubs of these letters and rubber banded bundles of cards: birthdays, graduation, anniversary, get-well, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Baby shower, Mother’s Day etc.  Every special occasion was represented amongst the cards.  These cards dated all the way back from before we were married.  I found cards from when I was a child and when I graduated from high school and college.  I found handmade cards from my sons and computer-generated cards that became popular in the 1990’s.  I found postcards from my husband that he had sent me when he was away on IBM business.  I cherish all of these but knew I could not keep them all.  I went through each card individually and decided whether to keep it, throw it out or simply cut out the images on the cards that were so beautiful.  This activity occurred at nighttime when I was watching tv and took me a week or so.  I read letters from the 1980’s detailing the goings on in the lives of my family members.  My Mam-maw Langston was especially diligent in writing to me. I reminisced.  I kept a specific sampling of letters and cards and reluctantly threw out the rest.  I had literally a lifetime of greetings.  These cards extended well wishes to all five people: my husband, me and our three sons.  Why is it so hard to toss greeting cards?  At the end of this activity, I had a shoebox full of images carefully cut out of the fronts of the cards that weren’t kept whole.  Additionally, the tubs were reduced down to only a couple of small boxes of cards and letters kept intact.

I was inspired recently by a young lady on Instagram to make a collage journal out of these images I had collected.  This book is a culmination of the pieces of cards I kept.  It makes me happy to look at this “fat book” of memorabilia.  I mixed and matched the sentiments so many people had graciously sent to us over the years and created artwork.  This is the story behind the making of this collage book.  It is special.  Never discount the impact of a handwritten letter or greeting card.

Tammy Harvey  2/09/2024   

Cartwheel Catastrophe

 

Cartwheel Catastrophe

I’m driving in my car, when I get this frantic call,

My son is asking me for advice about my grandson’s fall,

Apparently, my grandson’s cartwheel had gone awry at school,

His arm was obviously broken, and my son was speeding like a fool,

He had heard my grandson in the background screaming out in pain,

When the school called to tell him, which made him totally insane,

He had left the house abruptly, without socks or underwear,

He was going close to 90 mph, but he did not even care,

His son was really hurt, and he was going to his aid,

As far as he was concerned, he was running a blockade,

Upon arrival, someone was holding my grandson’s dangling arm,

My son removed his own shirt for a sling, to prevent more harm,

They walked into a nearby ortho-clinic, but was sent straight to the ER,

Shirtless, sockless and underwear less didn’t get my son very far,

The ER desk said, “sir, you must wear a shirt in here”,

He said I will when you attend to my son, whose break is very severe,

Ultimately, my grandson had broken his arm in half,

Just above the elbow which required surgery, stat,

Because he had eaten lunch, surgery had to wait,

So, they did a procedure to get his arm straight,

Later on, that evening, his surgery was completed,

At a different hospital, where 3 pins were inserted,

He spent the night there and was really strong & brave,

He cooperated fully and did not misbehave,

This energetic little boy had to stay still to properly heal,

No running, no jumping for weeks- it was quite an ordeal,

Tammy Harvey

01/25/2024

NC Valentine

 

Gotta Love NC

NC State fans wear red,

Tarheel fans wear blue,

Sweet tea is sweet, I'm telling you,

Cardinals are red,

Bluebirds are blue,

Honey is sweet and sticky too!

Here in NC,

Tried and true,

Barbeque is red,

Ocean water is blue,

Eat a nice meal,

Enjoy the view,

The Currituck lighthouse is red,

Blue Ridge Mountains are blue,

What am I really,

Trying to tell you?

From the peaks of the Great Smokey mountains,

To the flat and fertile Coastal Plains!

Here is what I'm trying to say...

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

Tammy Harvey

2/01/2024

Family Affair

 

A Family Affair (1/13/2024)

Another grandchild is coming, this we already know,

Prayerfully, we ask for a healthy little baby to grow,

To say we are excited, is quite the understatement,

Some of us, however, are extremely impatient,

Is he a boy?  Is she a girl?  The curiosity is killing us,

We think a gender ultrasound is certainly a must!

After much consideration, nagging, begging and pleading too,

The father-to-be conceded that an ultrasound was due,

At the local Baby Bump, a family ultrasound was set,

An exclusive gender reveal party of 12, a day we won’t forget,

With two boys, 4 and 7, already born to Mom and Dad,

A little girl was hopeful, but either way, we’d all be glad,

Another little boy Dad was positive it would be,

And it took a little longer for the technician to see,

But eventually, the baby decided to cooperate,

And the next thing you know, we knew the baby’s fate,

“It’s a girl” we heard, as tears rolled down the mother’s face,

While Dad was in shock- cheers of joy erupted in that place,

A deer in headlights is how I’d describe my son,

And I must admit… he was not the only one,

I really thought 3 boys, like me, was in the cards for him,

But, of course, I’m really truly thrilled for every one of them,

The boys will have a sister, and girl cousins will be best friends,

This is nowhere near where this story ends!

Tammy Harvey  on 01/23/2024