In My Life...

You know those historic moments?  The ones that you will always remember where you were when you heard ______ happened?  Every generation has them.  Recently I decided I wanted to document the ones in my life.  I wanted to tell the stories as I remember them, and the emotions I felt at the time.

The events in my lifetime that stick out in my mind are...

1. The Challenger Explosion
2. Princess Diana's death
3. 9/11
4. Election of President Obama

My design inspiration came from Moon Ko.  I loved the look of the rounded edges on opposite corners of each block.  Even though this is a paper layout, I thought I could recreate it better digitally.  Especially since my photos were ones I found on the internet.

Since all of the photos had blue in them I chose that as my first accent color.  Then as I scrolled through my digi papers I found this yellow to go with it.  Not my usual colors but they seemed to fit this layout.

For each of these events I know exactly where I was at the moment I found out about it.  I was in 5th grade when the Challenger exploded.  I was standing in the art room with all of the other 5th grade students watching the launch on TV.  I had a personal connection to this event because a friend's mom had been one of the finalists for the teacher spot on that mission.

I was a senior in college when Princess Diana was killed.  As a girl I had watched her wedding and as I grew I was always drawn to stories about her life.  Her death was so sad to me.

Of course 9/11 had to be included on this page.  I was teaching at the time.  I remember walking to the office to make those final copies and seeing a group of teachers around the TV in the library.  I simply couldn't believe my eyes.

The final event I highlighted was the election of our nation's 1st African American president.  I spent my career teaching under privileged black boys and girls.  As I watched Obama give his victory speech I just sat and cried.  I was blown away by what this would mean in the lives of the students I taught.

I know that I still have a lot of life to live, and there will likely be more memorable news events in my lifetime.  But I felt it was important to honor what I remember here and now.

It took me awhile to figure out how to make a rectangle with two rounded corners.  Once I did I was able to create the template and just copy and paste it 4 times.  Then all I had to do was clip my papers and pictures in the appropriate boxes.  (Look for a PSE tutorial on how to make those shapes sometime next week).























What are the events in your lifetime that you will always remember "where you were?"