DIARIES AND CALENDARS - A WRITER'S TREASURE TROVE

I only recently began keeping a journal. Mostly because I realized I was forgetting things because there are so many things to remember! LOL

But a few weeks ago, my son needed information about some of his doctor's appointments and I leafed through about five years worth of calendars. It was like a huge record of birthdays and funerals, new babies, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, picnics, graduations, books started, books finished, books that went nowhere! LOL

I had listings of friends from out of town who visited, conferences I attended, vacations. They might have only been one line entries in a calendar, but amazingly they brought back rushes of memory!

Great post, Becky!

susan meier 

I was actually on a plane once that had to return to the airport 15 minutes after takeoff for an emergency landing.

What makes this funny is that the flight is only about 35 minutes long. Could we risk going the extra five minutes? LOL  Apparently not. We went back to Pittsburgh. Landed on a runway with emergency vehicles racing out to us in case we crashed. That doesn't fill you with comfort and joy! LOL!

I was once waiting for a flight when they called my name to come to the desk at gate. Then they handed me off to security. I walked down a long hallway with two security guards holding my arms. At the end of the hallway were probably half a dozen more security guards. All standing around my little red suitcase.

 I thought what the devil have I done? Do I look like a terrorist? A drug dealer?

"Your bag is locked." (This was after 9/11 when you couldn't lock suitcases anymore.) "And it's vibrating."

All the men suddenly had to turn away and cough and I thought...what the heck is going on here?

Then I realized. My toothbrush had turned on and they thought it was ... a vibrator.

Imagine the disappointment on their faces when they saw it was indeed a toothbrush! There were a few groans and suddenly the crowd of security guards disbursed. What a hoot!

Engine falling off the plane is not a good thing! LOL

I'd hate to be on a ship in the middle of the ocean during a hurricane.  That would scare me senseless, I think!  Glad you made it out in one piece!  When I read the part about your high heel falling into the ocean, I got tingles wondering if the rest of you was that close to going over a rail or something.  Oooooh!

My DH and I have been going through my father's house.  He's now in a nursing home with Alzheimers and prostate cancer that has invaded the bone, and we have to go to feed his cat and give him some love every day.  We've been going through papers in hopes of having things in order when the time comes.  Not a very happy thing, in general.

However, my DH came across two things that brought me a smile.  One was a composition my DF did for a creative writing class he took after retirement.  (Here in Kentucky, senior citizens can take classes at state colleges/universities tuition-free.)  Anyway, he wrote about my first big sewing project as a teenager:  a suit coat for him in houndstooth check.  He talked about my being secretive and not wanting him to come downstairs (where the sewing machine was) and feeling hurt until Christmas morning when he got the suit coat.  (I know, I know.  Other kids take on pillow cases as an intial sewing project.  Why I felt the need to take on a man's suit coat in houndstooth check, no less, is now beyond me, but that's me.  Taking on something huge and just assuming I can do it, which sometimes backfires on me!  However, he still has it in his closet all these years later, and the craftsmanship was pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.) 

I also read a poignant journal entry he wrote in 2003 talking about how he couldn't seem to remember to write in his journal and how that troubled him.  He attributed it to getting older (he was 79 in 2003), but in retrospect we can see that it was the Alzheimers that is now making it difficult for him to find the words to express himself at all.