Connecting With My Mom...A Shared Journal of Sorts

I wasn't sure whether I should write about this little red book....but the more I thought about it...the timing of rediscovering it....and the relevance to what I am promoting in this blog....I decided to go ahead.

I was delighted...and a little emotional yesterday when I came across this little book I put together for my parents in 1981...just a few months after I got marriedI.  I had finally grown up and officially left the farm to start my new life with Paul.  It was filled with silly poems and memories of growing up in a big family.  It was pretty simple and not very artistic...but it didn't need to be. It was my way, at that time, of saying thank you to my parents for giving me a good start in life.

A bit sappy?  Probably...

                        ...but I still believe these same things almost 34 years later.

The very best part about rediscovering this book was remembering how my mom used some of the blank pages at the end. She wrote a little thank you note and quoted a few scriptures and poems. She also included a few pictures that were important to her and tucked in my father's obituary. He died just after Christmas that year...and she was starting a new life on her own.

My mom died about 6 years later and I miss her dearly. There is so much I would love to chat about with her...so many stories I would love to share.

I am glad this little book went full circle and I have it back. It's a "shared journaling" treasure.

My mom and her nine children.  She tucked this 
into the book...taken on the day of my dad's 
funeral...the last day of that year.

One Final Note

Long before I started my shared journaling, my mother-in-law, Margie, and my sister-in-law, Liz, had been writing in a shared journal...and they still are today. They trade one book back and forth and share memories, reflections, and pictures. They comment...and sometimes correct what the other has written about...but that is part of the plan.  What a treasure that book will be!