In 1981, Santa brought me a Hello Kitty diary; I was 7 and totally smitten with Hello Kitty (as evidenced by the infamous Hello Kitty Heist of ’81). This diary began my 25+ year love affair with writing longhand. Don’t get me wrong, we had a Commodore 128 and were hip to technology, but I loved to write by hand. I used this diary (albeit sporadically) until 1988, recording all my pre-teen drama and foibles for my future self to look back on with mirth.
When I went to high school, I stopped keeping a daily diary and graduated to the marble composition notebooks for vacation journals–notice the personalized one with the collage of pictures on the cover! Our family vacations are chronicled from 1989 straight through to 2008 (though now I vacation with my husband). I started using other types of journals because the composition notebooks didn’t weather all that well.
I love looking back on old vacations–especially with my family–because I wrote down the most august things that would have long since faded from memory. A family vacation to Long Beach Island, NJ in 1991…I was a chronic overpacker even at the tender age of 16!
Or how about a page (and doodle) from 2007’s road trip that took us to Livingston, Montana?
My point is that even though I love to blog, nothing compares to keeping a longhand journal of my travels. But I wonder if anyone else out there does the same? Is writing by hand a dying hobby?
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Book, Line, and Sinker 