Last week I ran across a box filled with all of my old journals. The excessive habit started when I was 8 with my first diary. I wrote about wanting a Cabbage Patch for Christmas and the woes of not sitting next to my best friend in class anymore. The writing continued all through school. One summer in Junior High I wrote every single day. The idea was that at the end of the summer my friend and I would trade diaries and read them. Most entries are very boring, containing elements like what I ate for breakfast or the fact that I didn’t want to clean my room. At the end of the summer, the trade never happened, but I have a faithful record of the entire 3 months.
In highschool I had to write every day during a sememster for a Creative Writing Class. By this time, my skills had improved and it is filled with silly poetry, character sketches, and insightful thoughts. Of course, it was just an assigment, and I also filled many days with uninteresting accounts of what I read on the back of a rice cake package.
In 9th grade I started writing a journal to my future husband, in hopes that he would one day read it. I rambled on and on about the events of my social life, highschool woes, and family challenges. I often enjoyed thinking about the kind of man he would be, his interests, his ambitions. I imagined my life in all different situations, with a scientist, artist, pastor, etc.
As I’ve gotten older, I have journals for each of my children and various prayer journals, but there hasn’t been much time to write for “fun.”
I’ve always wanted to Blog, but I had hesitated because I wondered, “Who would read it?” Now I know, however, that it isn’t about who reads it. It is about me expressing myself in writing – something that has always been important to me. I have dozens of notebooks filled with my random thoughts that no one probably cares about. Even the two notebooks to my future husband have never been read by him! 🙂
So my blogging will begin! And if you’ve read this far, then maybe my thoughts will one day be read afterall…
Becky, while I have never gotten around to reading any of your journals from your school years, and I doubt that you wanted me to, I find you a very interesting and creative writer and I will always be one of your biggest fans… Pop
Becky, I can ditto Pop. You are a creative writer and it will be fun to see what you come up with. I have always enjoyed reading what you have written. Mom