Phil asked yesterday, “Where has March gone?” I guess the answer to that is into the archives! At least that is where March on the blog will be in a couple days. So, it isn’t actually gone … just filed away. That is another reason I blog … it is my newest form of journaling and the best, not to mention an easy way to keep memories alive.
I have been keeping a journal since 1962. My youngest child was about a year old when I decided to leave a record of my life for posterity. Then, I wrote in longhand, in a spiral notebook and I have a metal file box full of them. How many? I’m not sure and there are many gaps over the past 42 years but when I again picked up the pen (and sooner or later, I always did), I tried to play catch up for the reader. As a novice journal writer, at the time I wasn’t sure how honest I should be so sadly, there are some obvious family history gaps, however, nobody will ever know.
I have been keeping a journal since 1962. My youngest child was about a year old when I decided to leave a record of my life for posterity. Then, I wrote in longhand, in a spiral notebook and I have a metal file box full of them. How many? I’m not sure and there are many gaps over the past 42 years but when I again picked up the pen (and sooner or later, I always did), I tried to play catch up for the reader. As a novice journal writer, at the time I wasn’t sure how honest I should be so sadly, there are some obvious family history gaps, however, nobody will ever know.
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Not too long before we retired, I spent several days traveling back through time with my journals. It was painful (I was only 23 years old when they started); sometimes sad and always amazing to read the words of the woman I was then. How could I have been so stupid … and so smart at the same time? In many ways, I wised up over the years but unfortunately, it was embarrassing to read that in many other ways, I hadn’t. As I read, I edited them using a black, felt tip marker obliterating a few truths that were more truthful than I want to leave behind at this stage of my life, but for the most part—they are what they are.
As anyone who writes one knows, those handwritten journals were my best friends; my confidants and my sounding board. No one else has ever read them. I left them with my daughter (after editing) when we retired and became fulltime Rvers but a year later, had second thoughts and retrieved them to put in our storage unit. She had not read them … (I found that really odd) … so they will stay with me until I am put in the ground. When I have taken my last breath, whatever happens to them will not affect me!
We went to my former step-daughter’s house in the foothills of Yuma for a delicious Easter dinner. My Aunt Elaine was also invited and she drove (our little Lone Ranger only seats two). Speaking of our little truck, he was just in the shop and had some work done. They inspected and repacked his wheel bearings; replaced the seals; put on new front brakes and resurfaced the rotors. Now he's good for another 144,000 miles (we hope!).
As anyone who writes one knows, those handwritten journals were my best friends; my confidants and my sounding board. No one else has ever read them. I left them with my daughter (after editing) when we retired and became fulltime Rvers but a year later, had second thoughts and retrieved them to put in our storage unit. She had not read them … (I found that really odd) … so they will stay with me until I am put in the ground. When I have taken my last breath, whatever happens to them will not affect me!
We went to my former step-daughter’s house in the foothills of Yuma for a delicious Easter dinner. My Aunt Elaine was also invited and she drove (our little Lone Ranger only seats two). Speaking of our little truck, he was just in the shop and had some work done. They inspected and repacked his wheel bearings; replaced the seals; put on new front brakes and resurfaced the rotors. Now he's good for another 144,000 miles (we hope!).
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Elaine and Roxy had met many years ago (when Roxy was a kid) so were happy to see each other again. Roxy is my youngest daughter’s half-sister (they have the same father) and she has been in my life since she was nine years old. After her father and I divorced, she and I stayed in touch and have continued to be close over the years. She is so busy, even in retirement, and continues to be a loving and lovely woman. Roxy’s husband, Marv was not feeling very well that day but I haven’t heard any news since then so we assume he has recovered.
Update on sister, Dixie: She continues to improve. The Staph infection continues to abate. She went to her daughter’s house for Easter and except for a few minor discomforts, stayed all day and had a good time.
Update on sister, Dixie: She continues to improve. The Staph infection continues to abate. She went to her daughter’s house for Easter and except for a few minor discomforts, stayed all day and had a good time.
I have been considering doing a retro acrtive blog, after you post you can change the date, so you could post your journals of the past, I am thinking of doing that for my moms 5 year journal from 1961-1966, Marty
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