I'm not sure if I would consider the contents of individual journals to be definitive chapters in my life, based on my late start and recent stochastic writing. Journal keeping was not a practice of mine until about the 5th grade. I would write at least a paragraph every day. The amount and variety of creativity in my journals expanded in junior high school and then homeschooling, when they would also be scrapbooks, copy books, sketchpads, and sratch paper. Each journal also seems to have a bit of its own personality, if you will, based on both the exterior design or style and the interior contents.
Some of these journals have not seen the light of day for one reason or another. Those unfortunate books that accompanied me through depression or anger just get left in whatever boxes they happen to be stored in. However, one of my favorite journals has a prominent spot on my bookshelf. It is tall, slim, and rich royal blue with a picture vines and flowers on the front and back covers. It was probably my first journal with unlined pages.
At first the idea of a journal with unlined pages was absurd, but then I found that I preferred it that way. There was a loose page that had leader lines if I wanted to use that, but more often than not there was such freedom in not confining my thoughts to those dull, evenly spaced lines. There are pages filled with text that curved around pictures or pasted movie tickets or text that spiraled around on the page, mimicking the way my thoughts had been spiraling around in my head that day. That was also the journal that saw my relationship with my best friend blossom and start to become what it is today. My feelings for that book are probably as strong as some of the feelings that are recorded in it.
I finished a journal that has been with me for approximately the last two years. That lifetime is due to the fact that I have been perfectly awful at maintaining any consistency in writing, despite the best of intentions. However, there is a new challenge to take record in one of the books that is awaiting selection as my new paper confidant. A young lady in the youth group at one of the churches (yes, there are two) I attend has taken up a personal summons to read the Holy Bible every day and write in her journal. She has also asked for accountability in this venture. She is an amazing young lady and I hope to be whatever help I can. Her move has also prompted me to make a similar commitment, not just to my books, but to God's Book, which has far stronger meaning and relevance in my life than anything I have penned.
The question now is the petite orange, oriental-dragon-embellished journal or the taller hand-dyed, natural fiber journal?
