Bloganuary Day #8
What I like most about my writing is the ability to preserve a memory while it’s still fresh in my mind. My family has occasionally joked about my ability to remember things “from the womb.” Of course I can’t but I associate my long-term memory with the fact that I have always liked photographs and writing captions on those photographs. Journaling has also been an intermittent practice throughout my life and it’s a fun way to remember things almost forgotten. Undeniably, the best part of reading old journals is seeing just how much your perspective has changed! Any person reading my third grade journal might think I was destitute and living through the Great Depression. To be fair, it was the seventies during the gas shortage and there was a mild drought. My third-grade, impressionable mind must have watched the nightly news on one of our three television channels and been convinced our circumstances were dire. At least those journals are worth a good laugh or two because I have held onto them despite many decluttering phases. Writing is therapeutic, as well as, a good way to preserve your family history. I know a lot of people who don’t care to remember the past and only wish to progress toward the future. However, I do believe it is important to understand how we became the people we are today. Reading your earlier writings gives you a lot of insight you might not have realized otherwise. Even if you aren’t interested in your past, that information might be important to your children or to other members of your family. Before those memories are completely lost, write them down. Start small. There are books for sale that help guide you through a process of documenting your life and I’ve even seen advertisements for an email service that sends you a question each week to answer. At the end of the year, they print it in a book for you.
I recently came across pages of what looks like song lyrics written in my grandmother’s handwriting. Unfortunately, she’s been gone many years for me to ask her about the significance of these.
*Note to self: write down the significance of things I save.
Living Over The Hill 
You are so right, the things we forget until our memory is jogged. I admire people who have good memories. My mom’s like that, she is 83 and her brain is sharper than all ours combined🙂.
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But I can remember what I walked into the room for 🥴
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I enjoyed reading this post Michelle because it reminded me of the things I enjoy – photography and journaling. Most of the stuff in my journals is trash like to do lists and notes from conversations. I used to do poetry and lesson plans in my journal. Now I plan blog posts. Thanks for the encouragement to keep up with Bloganuary. I’m glad you are enjoying it.
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