For The Record - Keeping A Journal

 

"I've never managed to keep a journal longer than two weeks." - J. K. Rowling
 

   There's something to be said about the journal (or diary depending on your age). A record of one's daily life and events. To put down on paper, or on a computer, the things that are deemed the most impactful or important. From the boy or girl that might like you in grade school, to your own child that might have a boy or girl that they like in grade school, keeping a record is something that can pay back great dividends.

 

   My mother had us trying to keep a journal from when we could first put together coherent sentences on paper. In fact, I still have my journals, short as they are, from when I was 8 years old. I can recall the memories of first crushes, things I liked to do, and so forth. If you do not have the best memory, a journal can be a time machine for you and your loved ones. I have wished time and again that I had something of my grandfather's of the same last name. Having died a week after I was born, and a father that is not that open about him, I know next to nothing about him. A journal can provide so many things. We can get a glimpse into our ancestor's lives. We can capture the funny things our children have said (my favorite has been the way one of my kids have morphed "hand sanitizer" into "handitizer").

 

   With today's technology, we can choose to blog, or just keep the pen and paper handy. I kept a hand written journal years ago before switching to a typed computer file for each entry.  I know we can be more involved with capturing the moment with our cell phones rather than just "enjoying being in the moment". If I try, though, at the end of the day I can always take a few minutes to record the day's events. So, as we start 2016, I hope to get back to keeping a more diligent journal. A journal for myself, a blog for everyone else, and maybe some cross-over moments...

 

Happy New Year!

 

J.