In the process of organizing my parents' photos, I found that the best way to tell their story is to separate them into 9 chapters:
Chapter 1: Pre-Tom (1953-1982) - Their upbringing, after college, and 1st year of marriage in China.
Chapter 2: Tom's Childhood in China (1982-1993) - Me growing up in XianYiang
Chapter 3: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1991-1995) - When Dad was getting his PhD he brought us to the US.
Chapter 4: In Athens, GA (1995-1997) - When Dad joined Olis, Mom was a nanny, and grandpa was with us.
Chapter 5: Living in Heather Cove, Athens GA (1997-2007) - Longest period in their lives where they lived in one place.
Chapter 6: Living in Arborwood, Bishop GA (2007-2011) - Living in their dream house.
Chapter 7: Mom's Babysitting (1996-1997) - My mom was babysitting in Marietta GA while we were in Athens GA.
Chapter 8: Being Part of Eden Church (2002-2011) - Growing close to the Ouyang family and even closer to the Lord.
Chapter 9: Wedding, Graduation, and Baby Timmy (2010) - The highlight of their lives probably was my wedding, and 2010 might well be the best year they ever lived.
Chapter 10: Final months up to funeral (2011)
Hey Tom, it may help you to keep things sorted out if you create "labels" for each of these 'chapters'? Then you could label each story as you tell it, and then it would be easy for anyone to go back through and sort them (like if you wanted to re-read all of chapter 5)...and you wouldn't feel like you needed to tell the stories in order. Just a thought I had.
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