Does anyone still journal...on paper?

My daughter has joined the league of bloggers...and, I admit, I had one going for a time (where is it in cyberspace now, I wonder?) and so it got me wondering if anyone keeps a journal on actual paper anymore? I'm not the first to realize that our instant communication modes have struck a death knell to more timeless means of saving one's thoughts. I am so grateful to have grown up in an age when letter writing and journal (diary) writing was common. While I mean to save the best, most heartfelt emails, I know that if my computer crashes they'll all be gone...along with my thousands of photos (another topic!). Blogging got me thinking about journaling, which I still do, although much more sporadically. Once upon a time, it was a pretty accurate record of my inner life.

Digging in some storage totes this morning, I unearthed my journals from years ago. Unfortunately I was not able to find my very first one...a small, bright yellow plastic coated one with a little brass colored key & lock...you know the kind, with the date stamped in small gold type at the top of each quarter-sheet sized page? Growing up in a family of seven with at least one inquisitive sister with whom I shared a room, that little brass lock was crucial to my wellbeing! I mean, if she ever found out who my secret love was? This was at age 10, maybe? To quote from a play I'm in, "Ye gads!"

My second journal, at age 15, dated September 1972, has a soft, fuzzy, sepia style photo of a couple holding hands walking along a beach with the profound quote above them: "Memories and love go hand in hand." On September 27th, I recorded a "significant" moment of being noticed....

"Mom said he kept looking at me as though he really appreciated me being there! Imagine, me, practically a 'nobody' with the boys at school, all of a sudden having two boys like me! ...the envy of the girl who introduced me to one of them, and the idol (practically) of the boy who introduced me to the other one (his friend!)."

And then, just to make doubly sure that my sister wouldn't be able to read any further, I switched to Spanish (or, more accurately, Spanglish)! Always hung-up about being chubby, I bemoaned the fact that I needed to lose at least five pounds before the next time I saw him, and ended my day's entry with, "Well, 100 sit ups now!"

And that still might be good advice for today! Nah...I'll take the dog for a walk instead.