a funeral, WWII and Peanuts

Well, I was hoping to get more scrapping done tonight but I seem to have run out of creative steam for the evening (or early morning, whichever you want to think of it as LOL!)

I was working on my freebie kit for RAKs for March earlier- I have to get it done for the digicraft chat at the beginning of March. I've had a particular element in my head for over a year and I finally started working on it tonight and I must say it looks fabulous! LOL So nice when you can make something exactly like you see it in your head. Now I just have to figure out what else to put with it ;)

So what else did I do today? This morning I went to a funeral for Stan Travnecik. I didn't know him hardly at all, but I know his wife. I met Polly through my friend Bonnie when she asked for some help with a special album that she wanted to work on for Polly. You see, Polly and Stan found a wall mural in their home that was one of Charles Schulz's earliest works. They donated the whole wall to the Schulz museum when it opened- and that wasn't an easy task because it was an outside wall. Bonnie and I and some of our other friends October last year putting together a scrapbook documenting Stan and Polly's experiences with that wall and all of the things that they have done and people they have met throught it. It was an amazing project that touched us more than we realized it would when we started. If you are interested in seeing the album, you can find the pages posted HERE.
(can anybody guess which pages I worked on?)

I found myself most moved during the funeral at the end when a two young men from the Army presented Stan with military honors and gave the flag draping his coffin to Polly. Stan was evidently very proud of his service to our country during WWII. Polly has written down some of the stories he told her, and I will look forward to reading them. It reminded me of my grandfather, as he also served in WWII. At the request of my parents I began work on a scrapbook of his memorabilia from the war 4 years ago, I think it was. It turned out to be an incredible year of discovery both of myself, my grandfather, and all that happened to those who served our country during that time. I was lucky enough to be able to connect with another member of my grandfather's crew through the internet, and we now share a special relationship as well. We put together a website that tells a little about their B-24 crew and their training and combat experiences. It is a very small way of preserving some of the memories that are lost every day with the death of the few remaining WWII veterans. Dale has written a book about his experiences during that time, and I have to say it was as good as any of the other books that I read during all of my research that year. So, without further ado- go visit my website about my grandfather's WWII B-24 crew by clicking HERE!