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Writing in Journals
By Rebecca | March 26, 2008
I remember, as a teenager, sitting with my youngest aunt and listening to her read from her journal. (Just a side note: This aunt is exactly 7 days younger than myself. We used to introduce ourselves as cousins in order to avoid embarassing questions and explanations.) The entry described a family reunion at the beach several years previously. It told of a particular afternoon when several of us built sculptures in the sand.
She and I were probably nine or ten. Several of the teenage family members had decided to mold the sand into various shapes and were willing to include us. In her journal she described in detail a car that we built. It was a “convertible” built below the waterline. It had two seats in the front and a bench seat in the back. The team fashioned a steering wheel and a windshield. It was our job scour the beach for items to accessorize the car. She wrote about using strands of seaweed for the seatbelts.
As she read the brief journal entry written by her younger self, she and I were both transported back to that day on the beach. We recalled a sand car that until that moment we had both forgotten. We remembered the excitement and the enthusiasm that we had felt that day on the beach. For a brief moment we marvelled that we would have thought to use seaweed for the seat belt.
That, my aunt commented, is the kind of thing that people should write in their journals.
In an eternal perspective, perhaps a sand car is of little importance. However, the relationships formed during that “wholesome, recreational activity” will be something that will last forever.
There are so many lofty and noble reasons for keeping a record of our family and personal histories and sometimes it can seem overwhelming. But the small details of our daily lives, recorded in a brief, simple fashion can bless our lives and the lives of our family.
Topics: Blessings, Family, Friends, Journals, Life, Traditions |
