Do you keep a diary or journal? My mother did. She was a diarist using those 5-year diaries that have a small space for five years on one page. After she died in 2012 at age 95, I took possession of the diaries. They started in 1940 and ended shortly before she died. She didn’t write every day at age 95. Her writing became an effort with many days skipped.
She was not one to write about her deep-seated feelings. She wrote about the activities of the day. When there are only 4 or 5 lines to write on, you can’t pour out your angst with the world.
As we were growing up, the diaries became the resource for our medical history. We made the call, “Mom, when did I have the measles? What was the year I had a broken toe? When did we go to Grand Maris?”
I have been a fairly steady journal writer since the 1970s. I have notebooks tucked into bookcases with my thoughts on life and my situation at the time. They are not for public viewing. The travel journals are a different story. I have chronicled our trips with pictures and notes. And now this blog.
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One response to “Life in a Diary”
My mother kept a diary from the early 1960s until she died in 2001. I have them and my sister and I talk of writing a book about her life as a farm wife using them. Love to read them. She had a whole page per day. Mostly wrote about what she did that day, but also her feelings. So glad to have them.