Charles Franklin Chamberlain was my dad's father. He passed twenty years or so before I was even a twinkle in my parents' eyes. Though we never met, I felt I knew him, as well as all of my other relatives gone before my arrival in this world. My family has always been big on keeping the spirit alive. Knowing your roots - if you know where you have come from, your foundation is strong for moving forward in life.
When my aunt was alive I worked with her on getting the stories together about her parents. In between she also had me diving into family mysteries which I was able to solve thanks to advancements in access to genealogical materials, but I digress. Aunt Joyce helped me through those years as much as I helped her. It was during the time my mother was ill and Joycie saved me from drowning in a pit of despair.
In those early days I used Shutterfly to print copies of the book and boy was that expensive. At the same time, I had met Ed Bentley who was helping me organize and save my grandpa's art. When with my aunt's ok, we started selling paintings to earn money to conserve paintings (and never ending cycle!) new owners wanted the book about my grandpa. I hadn't seen that as a possibility and felt awful having people spend $60 to get a printed one, so then I began the task of getting the book into an easier to print format. (as well as add in the letters he exchanged with his mother as well as some artist friends while in Paris, Europe and around the US).
Aunt Joyce passed. My mom passed. And I was a bit lost in this sea of art and family history.
My niece Taylor published a book via Amazon KDP as part of a university project named Beautiful Blue. I loved the book and immediately sought Tay's guidance in possibly getting my book ready to publish through Amazon. I had looked into it, but it felt so overwhelming! Tay suggested TikTok videos and she wasn't wrong. The videos were very helpful and soon I was publishing my first book as a test and then my grandpa's book.
I found that publishing the children's books was such a fun diversion, I kept with it. It brought me joy and still does. I needed this outlet to help balance life. To this day, the books still bring me joy.
But now I need to spend brain cells working on grandpa's art exhibit next year. I'm diving back into the family history and it's scary and daunting and bringing back so many memories... I hope I can manage them now.
If you're curious about his art, the book is available in some libraries, at Amazon and you can also just google his name! There's a lot of images online!
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