JOURNALS

Did any of you ever have a little five-year diary with a lock and key?

This is one I just found on the internet from 1941.

I remember having several of them as a child, usually given to me as a Christmas present.  I would try so hard to remember to write in it each day but never quite managed to keep it up and would get discouraged and give up.  That was my first young attempt at journaling.

When I was a young bride and mother, I began keeping journals in a small spiral notebooks.

When I would awake, in the middle of the night, I would get my little notebook and pour out my heart on it's pages.  Over the years they became records of the events going on in our lives, but also my dreams, my aspirations and my flustrations.  Often I would refer to them to verify when a particular incident had taken place.

In the heat of an argument, during a very bad time in our marriage in 1984, one of the things that was brought up was how I had to keep a record of every single event that ever happened in our lives.  In the heat of that argument, again in the middle of the night, I tossed ALL of my journals into the flames of the fire burning in the small metal fireplace in our bedroom. 

As I reflect back on this event (these 28 years later!) I would love to have those journals and realize what a childish responce that was.  Mickey has also been sorry he made that foolish, angry remark at me.  Like so many things in life we cannot undo our actions. 

While I no longer keep writen journals it has just truly dawned on me that this adventure of blogging, these past 5 years, is my modern day version of journaling.  No wonder it has been such a blessing to me.  

So, I am curious about your experiences with diaries and journals.  Have you kept one in the past?  Are you currently keeping a journal?  Do you consider blogging a form of a journal?  

DON'T FORGET to go here to get the information about my Bloggoversary Give-Away drawing on January 27th.