28 January 2013

Journaling

Can I be honest? I am never, ever, as put together as I feel I portray. For instance, I have not been able to find my hairbrush for three weeks. Three. This is all well and good and uneventful until you realize that because of this I have not been brushing my hair for three weeks. Three. (And I'll bet none of you even noticed.) There's not much I can do in regards to missing hairbrushes, but for all the other day-to-days that threaten my mental state, I have a secret weapon. A master plan. A journal.

I started my black moleskine six years ago. Since then, sporadic proclamations of preteen angst have turned into nightly dramas of I-can't-believe-I'm-21-year-old angst. A spilled mug of tea has stained every page. A Hello Kitty sticker was stuck on the cover and immediately removed. The ink has transitioned from ballpoint to rollerball gel to felt tip. The penmanship has evolved from careful print to scrawled-yet-pretty script. Writing in this journal has been an anchor in times of distress and a celebration in times of joy. And it's almost over. I am around ten pages away from filling every page, and I'm simultaneously overjoyed and distraught. Of course, I have another book lined up (with maps and drawings from Middle Earth!!!) but there is something definitively sad and era-ending about filling these last pages.

In honor of my journal, and for your entertainment, here are the very first lines written in it:
"Feb 3 2007
Since I started reading The Diary of Anne Frank, I've been inspired to write my own diary in case I'm captured by Nazis (which is highly unlikely to happen.)"*

This summer I got the opportunity to tour the Anne Frank House museum (which I wrote about here). It was truly unbelievable, especially since - jokes about Nazis aside - she is the reason I started journaling and consequently the reason that I am able to parade around like a normal person while really being a crazy-eyed mess of a girl. And I think we are all pretty thankful for that.

Do you journal?

 *So, yes, I have always been impeccably sensitive and witty. And I only get better with age, ladies and gentlemen!

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