The other night at dinner my husband asked me a question that I had no answer for right off the top of my head. We were talking about the topic that makes up about 90% of our conversations these days; our oldest son’s upcoming wedding. In the course of what we were discussing, I said something about how I would be using the journal my husband gave me for Christmas by the time we leave for the wedding. The journal I’m about to finish up is over-sized. The new one will be easier to pack. Then my husband asked the question – why did I keep a journal?
I had no answer for that question. In the sixth grade I began to keep my first diary. It was a small green book with a lock and key. Of course the key soon got lost but that didn’t matter much. No one was dying to read what I wrote. From that time on, I have written about my life. Not everyday. Heaven knows I’m not that organized. Sometimes I go for long stretches of time without writing in a journal. Yet I always come back to it.
One period of time that I wrote very detailed journal entries was from about 1973 until the late 1970s. These journals were about the time I saw Elvis Presley in concert. For some reason I felt it very important to document my Elvis adventures. Now I am glad I have these journals. The thought has been in my mind to turn them into a book about being a die hard Elvis fan.
Later in life when I went to college (I went to college when my youngest son was a senior in high school. Late bloomer is an understatement in my case.) journaling was used in some of my classes. Journals were a tool used to get older students back into the swing of writing. That pushed me to start writing in my personal journals again. Now I write in my journal everyday. Why do I do it?
Writing lets me express myself. I can put down what I really think and feel. Blogging is the way people write about their daily life nowadays. I blog too but blogging is too public for me. I’m not the kind of person who would write something on a blog that could hurt someone who might have access to the blog. My journal is private. I know someday someone will have the task of deciding what to do with my journals.
Maybe future family members will be interested in what life was like for me. One generation getting a peep into how another generation thought and felt. Back to the question that started this whole blog – why do I write in a journal? Well, to be truthful there is only one good reason; I enjoy it. Writing in my journal is something I do just for myself. My own private time. And that is reason enough for me.
