Yesterday Will was reminiscing about something that happened in his “late sevens.” (He’s in his “late eights” now.) Which reminded me that I need to remember to write things down. We all think we’ll remember every interesting tidbit of our days, but new things keep squishing out the old. There’s only so much room in the brain.
And there’s only so much time in the day. Which is why I love my grandma’s collection of five-year diaries. The entries are short and sweet and get right to the heart of what’s going on in her life. They’re also very useful for winning arguments with Grandpa Tony. I’ve written about this before, but it’s so fun when Grandma calls me and reads special diary entries, like the one from the day I got married or when one of the kids were born.
Grandma says the secret to keeping up with a diary is to make sure it’s in a handy spot. She keeps hers on a table next to the sofa in the living room. When she sits down in the evening to watch TV, she writes that day’s entry. She always jots down the weather then writes a few sentences about what she did that day.
Five-year diaries are surprisingly difficult to find, so I was thrilled to find this one from Chronicle Books.
They also offer a “Mom’s One Line a Day” memory book that would be a great gift for any mom, rookie or veteran. This diary could pick up right where the First Year calendars leave off. All kids love to hear about the funny things they said and did when they were younger, don’t they? Plus, if they have to write autobiographies for class projects some day, the information you recorded will come in handy.
So today I’m officially re-committing to writing things down. I’m sure I can dig out a little extra discipline from somewhere. It’ll only take a few minutes a day and I’ll be so glad I did it.
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