I am so glad that someone encouraged me to start keeping a Journal many years ago. It has come in handy lately.
It just dawned on me (“Thank You, Holy Spirit” for prompting me!) that I have not composed a blog in a couple of weeks. My reason for this is that I have been writing my memoirs.
Some of you who follow me weekly and continually (Thank you!) saw that I posted a list of The Best I EVER Coached a couple of months ago. It hit Facebook and the folks in our area went crazy. Everybody seemed to enjoy reading the list. One friend even commented that I should “write a book.” Here I am… writing a book! It is a “look back” at a lot of the kids whom I coached. I’m sharing stories about them that either impacted our program or impacted me personally. I have gotten so engrossed in composing the manuscript that I forgot about posting on here! Sorry…
One of my main resources to jog my memory as I’ve composed these “memoirs” has been my Journals. Being able to read what was happening and… what I was thining/feeling about the particular situation as it happened has really helped me recall details.
My father-in-law kept a journal of his where-abouts during World War II. He was sent to Europe as soon as he graduated from VMI in 1944. He started logging all of the places he was stationed in England… then France and Belgium. Finally the final push into Germany itself. He was a Forward Artillery Observer in the Battle of the Bulge and was one of the first Americans to come upon a Nazi Concentration Camp. My wife keeps that Journal under lock and key! It is so interesting. Our plan is to, one day, travel her dad’s route through Europe and see the places he saw while in the war.
I would recommend to any of you out there to consider starting a journal. I write something in mine every Monday morning with breakfast. It is good to be able to “look back” and recapture the thoughts you were having “back then.” It’s good to “look back” occasionally. It can be helpful (and healthy) to see how far you’ve come.
