Journals and letters

Step eight of Fearless Females:

 Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.

Probably, but not to me. If any of my relatives have any, I'd love to have copies.

Mum has a friend who has written journals since 1978, a day per page. They are in his study, on shelves around the walls, all the spines neatly marked with the year. Mum says they are amazing things - beautiful, clear, small handwriting, and not just writing, but snippets from newspapers, tickets, labels, photos, postcards, all sorts of things. He is leaving a fine legacy to his children.

So I got to thinking, how many stories from my life will go when I do? Things I know and my children don't, or won't remember so well. How much was lost from my ancestors? Off to Kikki.k for a really nice journal and some pen refills, and then every day now I sit and write something. I took it to the doctor's twice (an hour waiting is not unusual). The plan is to do some drawings in it as well, but I get caught up in the writing and forget to leave a space.

Already it is proving an interesting exercise. Mum wrote a little book about her time in Bangladesh, so I have something to refer to for my early years. It is amazing how many things I didn't have quite right in my head - grew up with the stories, but didn't actually remember many of the events and it gets a little scrambled. I may paste a copy of Mum's book into the front of the journal (it is only about 12 pages or so).