I have a confession to make…..
This morning I brought my 2008 calendar to the basement and stuffed it in the storage box where I keep my old planners and journals. Each year when I toss another version in the bin, I’ll skim a few books from previous years. Today I asked myself, “What was I doing five years ago?”
Yes, I’ve been jotting my life down for a few years. Well maybe more than a few years - about a decade. Actually…if I’m being really sincere, maybe it’s been since college. OK, OK, if I’m 100% honest with you, I'll confess that I've been keeping a record of my life since, uh…third grade.
It all began when my grandmother gave me my first diary in 1971– a white leather journal with a brass lock and key. I was in third grade and stuck at home with the chicken pox. I loved my secret book, and continued writing down my life in Five Year Diaries. In college I scribbled my life and assignments in Day-By-Day Academic Calendars. Once in the workplace I graduated to At-A-Glance Calendars, Day-Timers, Franklin Planners, Filofaxes with a few Italian leather journals thrown in the mix. I’m not sure why I keep all these books, but after 30+ years, I don’t have the heart to toss them.
Now back to the question: What was going on in my life on January 15 for the past 30 years? (In decade increments.)
- Friday, January 15, 1999 – I was working as a proposal analyst at Kendle International, and I submitted a proposal to a pharmaceutical com
pany. After work I picked up my kids from day care.
- Saturday, January 15, 1989 – I saw “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” with my husband. We had lunch at “JB Winberries” (a restaurant in Cincinnati that has gone out of business but I still miss). At night we had dinner with my parents and grandmother.
- Monday, January 15, 1979 – I was a junior in high school and didn’t have classes because it was Martin Luther King Day. I should’ve been studying for exams but I wasn’t. I watched “Mork & Mindy” and evidently thought it was a funny show.
Looking back, I was just recording mundane moments. But now everything has changed. I no longer have the same job. The company to which I submitted the bid was inhaled in a corporate merger. My children are growing and our day care days are long gone. The restaurant I liked has closed. The TV show and movie are cultural relics. And my grandmother has died. (But I still procrastinate).
I think that’s why I keep my calendars and journals. I want to hang on to that sweet string of everyday moments.
- Jennifer Sauers