Joy of Journals

After reading Susan's post about her old journal, I decided to write something of my own on the subject.

Mom gave me my first journal when I was almost 7 years old, so, as you can imagine, the writing and spelling within it is hideous! I can barely decipher parts of it, but it is really funny to read! I started my first journal on one of the many trips our family took. Here's an excerpt from one of my first entries:

"June 16th, 1997
We our getting radee to go. It is 9:50 and it is time to go. We are going to Bastrn (Boston). Wre trae our not very mane Christins (Christians). We our stil in New Yoke. We pase a lot of woods it is saurt of like the woods at our haos..."

Hilarious no? I had yet to figure out that there were two different spellings of "our" and "are"! I left in the bad spelling so you could see it, and the handwriting in my journal is just something else!

I continued my first journal until I was 8, writing in it but a few times. I recorded mostly day-t0-day things, such as the following entry:

"October 15th, 1997
Today was a borren day. We had to stay home and do book lernnen. Bate in a littol waol I am going to wash my dolls dishis."

Such an exciting life I had! :-)

My next journal was started when I was almost 9. I hadn't used up all the space in my first journal, but it was falling apart and I was ready for a new and prettier book to write in! We were on the way to visit my brother Luke and his family, and my spelling was a little better...

"July 3rd, 1999
We were aimming to leave a 9:00 but we left a 8:55! So we pretended to faint in the car..."

The late Lofgrens we always were! :-)

I illustrated many of my entries, but this diary lasted only a year until I tired of it and began a new volume at the beginning of 2001. It only lasted until August however, after which I didn't write at all for a few months.

I wrote in my 4th journal, the one for 2002, on and off. I recorded friends coming over, trips, books I read, and various things I did and thought. I started writing a lot more, and have continued, with few breaks until now!

I think one of the reasons I journaled when I was younger, besides my mothers prompting, was because of the influence of different books. One of my favorite series was (and is!) The Little House on the Prairie books. My mom told me that Laura had been able to write all the stories because of the journals she had kept. That made me want to record my own life for posterity! I also read quite a few Dear America Diaries, and once even mused in my own diary about whether or not I would like it being published! "Probaby not..." I decided. I wasn't sure I wanted the world reading my thoughts! I don't think I realized until later that the Dear America Diaries weren't actually the true diaries of the girls they were written about.

While I was in my pre-teen years, I didn't really have any close friends, so it was often to my journal that I recounted hurts and frustrations, as well as things that were on my mind. I often expressed my overwhelming desire to have a close friend, often ending with something along the lines of "But all I have is you... my journal..." I eventually found soul mates, and God has blessed me with wonderful friends, but it is still to my journal that I confide everything. (I can just imagine my family and friends trying to dream up a way to peek into my journals...But they'd better not! ) It is such a freeing thing to be able to write my thoughts and prayers down, and yes, I do hope that one day I'll be able to look back at them, and read about when I was a little girl! Perhaps I'll even share them with my children one day.

I still keep a journal, and have recently started my 8th book. I now write my journal as letters to my future husband, but I still recount daily happenings and thoughts. I always knew that my journals would be for my husband to read one day, so now I just write them directly to him, whoever he is! (Hence the poem I wrote a while back, Letters To My Dearest)

Anyways, I've continued to write in my journals for a few years with barely any long breaks, and I hope that I'll be able to continue, by God's grace, to add many more volumes to my collection over the years! Journaling is so enjoyable!