“Do you ever read your old journals?” people often ask me. That’s because I have a LOT of journals. More than 135, but I have lost count of the last handful or so. I’ve been keeping journals since I was 14 years old, and that was let’s say more than 10 years ago. A lot more. I have boxes of journals in my attic, but I also keep some in m bedroom, in the living room, etc. The are so familiar around here that I feel about 90 percent sure that nobody in my family is interested in reading them. Besides, my favorite, favorite thing is quotes and memories of my children growing up, and I regularly tell them stories about themselves when they were small. Example:
April 17, 2000: My kids sure know how to fight over nothing. Yesterday they fought over the piece of cotton in the vitamin bottle. This morning they fought over two spoons. No, of course they couldn’t each take one. They both had to clutch two spoons and rabbit kick each other.
Other times, it’s something even more ridiculous, like what they called each other. J accused M. of using the Z word (“zippidy Dippidy”)
I guess it’s karmic payback for the fights I had with my sister about whether or not making a ticking noise outside the door constitutes sibling abuse.
But sometimes when I hear the crashing, the screaming in the other room, the “He kicked me in the EYE.” I think, I must be working off my karmic debt pretty fast. In fact, I may even be owed some.
Good times!
There are other reasons I like to reread my old journals, which I will explore in other posts. But what I really hope to do is inspire at least one person reading this to pick up a notebook and a pen, and write at least a few sentences today. Write a memory. About the cup of tea you’re drinking. A letter to someone you’ll never forgive. Start. Or continue the old travel journal that’s been three-quarters empty. There are so many good reasons to keep a journal. It is my goal (or, as they say, “I am setting an intention”) to write one writing prompt a day on Facebook for the rest of the month. And to write more about journals and journaling on this blog as well. Okay, here goes:
Prompt 1: Where are you and what are you doing? Describe the sights, sounds, and smells, what you overhear, what emotions you feel in your body.
135journals 
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