Uniquely Yours Craft Journal

Dear Fellow Journalers,

This is a ‘re-post but one worth reading again:

Memories, “they say”, can never be taken from you, but the intricacies of the memory itself can fade. Do you really remember all the important details people’s names, the little things that happened or even the big experiences, the way you felt? The only way to remember is to write things down.

A Life worth living is worth recording.

     Now you may think that crafting a memory journal will be tedious and you see a giant headache in your future. But think of it this way, you’ll re-live and reevaluate events, relationships and turning points in your life. With perspectives that can only be gained by living forward, reflecting backwards you’ll re-examine your life and view the challenges and the discovery of who you are now. You are an important part of your friends and family lives and the portrait of you gives these important people a greater understanding and appreciation of the what’s and why’s and how’s of you.

   If you’re of a particular age, you might also be one of the last people alive with memories of your grandparents and perhaps even your parents. How many times have you heard someone say “I wish I knew more about my Dad” or ” I came from an estranged family. I wish I knew more about my Grandparents – did I look like them? Where did they come from?”

  You also are an eyewitness to historical events. Your memories, experiences and perspective about events that happened all around you add to the collective knowledge of our past. I always like viewing TV shows about historical events in which the narrator or the scene portrays little known events. You know the ones I mean – the events not recorded in history books. The story about a man who missed the train because he drove his child to school because his son missed the bus and the man was NOT at the World Trade Center when it was attacked or the people in the crowd who were cheering the marathon runners in Boston MA – there are hundreds of stories like that memories locked up in people’s minds and hearts.  On a personal note, I remember watching the moon space landing and the day Kennedy was shot. ( I know I am dating myself!)  I remember my wedding day, the day our son was born, holding my newborn granddaughter for the first time, the first time I rode a horse, went on a train trip, saw Peter Pan with Mary Martin in NYC, swam in the ocean – big and small things that make up my life.

     These and more reasons propelled me to write a memory journal if not for me than for the generations of family members who come after.

‘Til then,

~Sallie