ANYONE SEEN MY DIARY?

In May 2012 I was reading Not For Packrats Only by Don Aslett which made me want to clean out drawers, closets, shelves, etc.  As I was decluttering some desk file drawers I found some of my old diaries.  My very first diary was a birthday present from Step-Mom (Billie) and Dad on my 14^th birthday, October 1967.  I didn’t start writing in it until January 1, 1968 for some reason.  I finished that 5-year diary in 1971, and my next diary was 72-76, followed diaries for 1979, 1985, and 1998. 

My very first diary

Have you ever gone through your diaries or journals and read things that were important at the time but not anymore, or you wrote things you wouldn’t want anyone to read while looking over your shoulder because you would be embarrassed.  There are some events that I jotted down and had totally forgotten about.  There were many entries about boys I liked at the time and had a crush on them, which now I have forgotten who they were.

Much of my entries were facts about what I was doing or what was happening in my life. I wrote about my feelings in some of my diary entries.  I wrote about classes in the schools I went to.  As I read through my old diaries I saw the person that I was but had forgotten.  Here are some examples of a few entries in my diaries and explanations about them in white letters.

January 19, 1968, “I know what I want to be when I grow up, a teacher at Perkins Institution for the Blind.”  I didn’t remember thinking that at all.

January 22, 1968, “I know how to knit now.”  I must have forgotten how to knit because I had to learn again in 2011!

May 6, 1969, “Steve signed my autograph book.  So did my singing lab partner.”  This Steve was not the one who would become my husband.  I didn’t even remember having singing lab in high school.

My diaries over the years

October 1974 to December 29, 1974, I had my first real steady boyfriend whom I met at the hospital where I worked. 

June 13, 1975, “Karen and Dorothy got here.  I sure was glad to see Karen.  She looked good, but I don’t think she’ll like it here because there isn’t anything to do.”  Karen was my sister who had been sent from Texas where we lived to Indiana where our mom (Dorothy) lived.  It didn’t work out and I had Karen come and live with me a few years later.  She liked the night life and would find it boring where I lived.

June 1975 to August 1975 was my second steady boyfriend, again from work.  And then…

October 1975, along came the man I would marry.

We humans are childish and fickle in our early stages and as we get older, hopefully, become more mature and reflect on events in our lives.  As I read through the memories of my life I could see the changes that had taken place.  It is good to do this.  If you still have your diary, flip through the pages and go down memory lane.