The Best Ever Gift

Last month when I decided to stop blogging, I knew I had to save all the material I had written since November, 2004, especially the first blog that I started because of my late brother. I loved his sense of humor, his quick wit, his cleverness, and even his run-on sentences. I tried several methods of saving “Observations of an Ordinary Person” (November 30, 2004 - July 13, 2007) but all were unsatisfactory. Either they were too time consuming or the format wasn’t satisfactory. I asked Jason if he could offer any suggestions to save my posts along with the pictures and comments. He gave me a couple of suggestions that I had already tried.


He later found a wonderful way to preserve my memories. He gave me the result Friday, not as a birthday gift, but as a “Just Because” gift. I had requested that they not give me any more presents on the usual gift giving occasions. He found a company online to print and bind my whole first blog with comments and pictures in hardcover. He chose the colors and the photos of the wisteria on the front and back of the book.

                                                                        

11 ¼” by 8 ¾”
Length - 240 pages

First page

Table of contents (11 Pages)

Sample pages














The book has every post, picture, and comment. (It also has every typo and every example of my bad grammar since it's taken directly from my site. If I had known, I would have done a lot of editing.) The quality of the paper and the binding is excellent, and the color in the photos is true. My photography doesn't do justice to the book. There are no washed out areas in the printing as it appears in my poor pictures, and the glare on the flash on the front diminishes the quality of the cover.

Of course, I cried when I saw it. Jason said when he was reading one of the posts about my brother to two of his friends in his office, his eyes became a little misty. When he looked up at them, they both were in tears.

Jason and Alisa, there are no words to convey my gratitude for this gift. It’s the best gift ever!!!

(Click on photos for detail.)