Journaling

During the holidays, we did quite a bit of cleaning out/re-arranging/organizing.

It was nice to have some downtime in order to be able to do that.

As I was going through one of the closets, I ran across a box that contained an unexpected ‘treasure.’ It was bunch of my ‘mini-journals’ from college days. Talk about a holiday season gift…and priceless in value.

I hadn’t seen them in years.

Since I uncrated them. I’ve been thumbing through the books a bit at a time. I’ve also been incorporating some of the snippets as a ‘highlights’ section into my current journaling project, which I’m doing as a bit of a ‘time capsule’ for Holly & Paul. These days, admittedly, my effort is much more extensive than the ones from my college days. 

So, in the highlights, I write things like: “On this day back in xx, I did xyz.” What I have been doing is, in essence, a mini-journal inside a journal!

That’s because the information is quite sketchy. I guess in those days, there was no time to write!

“Went to dinner and a movie.” “Saw friends Bill and Bob.” “Watched the 49ers beat the Cowboys on 'The Catch.’” (Oh, wait, that was yesterday’s post…)

The mini journals from my college years are JUST that. They are small. I think I started out just wanting to capture the highlights of those days and I did just that – snippets of fun times with friends, a bit of romance and some of the milestones of the era. Got this job. Rented this apartment. Bought first house. Etc.

They are also a link to pleasant days and friends I no longer see. But when I read the daily entries, I remember…and I smile.

Also of note, the mini-journals extend into the time period when Lisa and I first started dating, got engaged and got married. Surprisingly, I DIDN’T extend them into the years when we first started having kids.

Wonder why?

JG 

Originally posted 1/11/2012