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Life is life: A mixed bag of good and bad, amazing and terrible. We all know this and that each of these types of events shapes us. But what about these life events and your learnings from them do you want to remember and maybe even share?
In the context of cancer, we’ve walked through challenging times with some of our Arti Community members. Their life experiences have given us a window into how Artifcting can support those directly affected by cancer including the patients and the family and friends.
Today we are sharing four examples of how Arti community members* have used Artifcting along their cancer journeys to inspire you or a loved one as you lean on Artifcts to help you through and beyond.
* Names and personal details are changed to protect the privacy of those who have shared with us.
Margie: Decades Ago
Flower bouquets and messages of support.
When Margie joined Artifcts, she started Artifcting by going category by category through her home. One day she’d Artifct jewelry, another travel mementos, next family photographs and bibles, and so on. Artifcting quickly became a life habit. She Artifcts gifts, new to her antiques she purchases on outings with her friends, and so on.
One day back in January, while browsing through her old photos and sorting out those she wanted to Artifct the stories behind, she came across several of flower bouquets from more than a decade ago. She remembered. Each bouquet was an expression of support and sympathy as she went through treatment for breast cancer.
“I wanted to remember. It’s a wonder who shows up in these difficult moments,” said Margie.
Message inside: "Thinking of you makes me think of sunny blooms."
Steve: There’s Only Today
Every pivotal life moment and framed reminder. Go!
Learning you have an inoperable tumor is a sobering moment. Everything you have dreamt for yourself for your days and years ahead is immediately vulnerable. Steve spent the first weeks of his partial diagnosis taking up Artifcting. He’d always thought Artifcts was a brilliant idea, but as years passed, he had yet to take the step to begin.
“When you realize tomorrow really might not come, priorities change.”
He Artifcted every day for weeks. He started with the present and worked backwards through time – his professional career, the lives and births of his children, his first home, university and high school days, and his own youngest years. He created all his Artifcts using photos he had easily at hand on his phone and in cloud storage. His Artifcts were brutally honest and often humorous, full of color and personality. Almost nothing he Artifcted was an item of value.
The day came when the inoperable tumor became operable, there was simply no other choice. After a successful surgery, Steve turned to Artifcting his most financially valuable items and designating his future plans for each using the “In the Future” field in each Artifct. He’d come full circle from wanting his loved ones to know HIM to wanting to take the burden off of them, letting them know what to do with all his “stuff” someday, hopefully many years from now.
Corinne: The End is Near
Personal insights and family experiences captured in photos and mementos.
It’s human nature to want to be seen and heard, known for who you are, and remembered. Corinne had lived a full life, one that included a husband, children, multiple careers, and years of travel around the world, practically no corner unexplored. Twice she had been diagnosed with cancer. Twice she had survived.
This time was different.
Her life-long best friend, who was retired, moved in with Corinne and her husband to help provide full-time care and to spend her final weeks together. Corinne, a professional writer, had one last goal to accomplish: a memoir. But how best to rapidly sum up a life and all the insights, lessons, and more she wanted to share with her children, grandchildren, and others?
“I had already started to Artifct. My collection started with a few trips I took and blossomed from there. Now I knew it was time to start filling in the gaps. I set up tags I wanted to use to organize chapters and themes, and I got to it. Many Artifcts didn’t have any photos of items to start. I just recorded an audio or video to set the scene for the Artifct. [My friend] helped me to take and add photos and to search my files for originals I wanted to include. I want this memoir to be more than a book. I want it to be as full of life as my life truly was and be my thanks to them all for making it so special.”
When writing memoirs, more often than not, travel will make an appearance. Click the image to view an example from our co-founder Ellen.
Ellen: Lest I Forget
The ins and outs of my cancer journey.
Okay, the name on this one is not changed, this is me, co-founder of Artifcts. I didn’t create any Artifcts about my cancer in the first months after my diagnosis. I had no compulsion to immediately because I had already Artifcted everything I valued most in my home, attic to desk drawer. I didn’t know what I wanted to Artifct about my cancer itself. It was all too raw and uncertain, to be honest.
Eventually I did create Artifcts about my cancer, but only after my surgery. The first was an Artifct with flowers, gifts, and cards. It was about the objects, mostly impermanent, as much as remembering how remarkable and humbling the outpouring of support was in those hard days. And the support came from tried-and-true friends of 35+ years and brand-new friends of no more than a week or two.
My second Artifct was in essence a journal. I don’t keep a journal or a diary. But in the months when I was not Artifcting, I was keeping a Word document by date full of the details of my appointments, thoughts, and experiences. I wrote it because I knew how easily I’d forget the details and emotions as time passed. And I wanted to be able to look back and remember so that if I ever met others going through a similar experience, I’d have my own personal experience to look back on.
These Artifcts are private, but shared with Ellen's husband and daughter.
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No matter the painful life twists you’re facing, from disease to divorce to loss, we hope Artifcts can help bring you peace of mind and help you to relive and capture the moments you value most, one object, one photo, one "thing" at a time.
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The first four days of our 12 Days of Artifcts challenge. Objects with stories, your stories!
