One Line a Day

Last year I bought the blue One Line a Day 5 year Memory Book, like the one my son has. For some reason I started on February 1, not January 1, a delayed New Year's resolution. The format of the book is simple. There is one page for each day and space for 5 entries(years) per date. The advantage of the one line a day is that it’s not too burdensome to maintain. Even if you wait a few days, you can remember what happened during the week and log some thoughts (usually!). It’s not intimidating because it’s hard to get really serious or philosophical in a few lines. My mother-in-law used to write in a notebook and her posts consisted pretty much of the weather report. I try to be a little more creative than that. I suppose the modern equivalent is posting a status everyday on FaceBook or Twitter, but then they disappear.

And the fun really begins in the second year, when you can bore everyone with entries from last year. Do you know what happened on this day last year? It’s my own little "This Day in History." A few observations:

• It puts things in perspective- what we worried about a year ago may have worked out or some concerns may now seem trivial. For example, on February 4 last year Beth was admitted to the hospital with premature labor. My entry: “Calm down, little Atticus, you have 7 weeks to go!” Atticus was renamed Alex at birth and he has proven to be a little man on the go even now, cruising the furniture and almost ready to take his first steps.

• A lot of things stay the same--like this entry from last February 9 “Never got dressed today- relaxing.” Hmm…that seems to occur quite often, although this year I have dubbed it “hibernating.” Need a new word to describe it when spring comes. Also, last year: "Trying to re-establish my exercise routine." LOL.

• I had thought this would be a stepping stone to a more complete diary, but I am content with the one line a day. I would invite everyone to try it. You can take it as a challenge to dress up your mundane life in 20 words or less. (That's a lot more leeway than 140 characters.) Or, you can just record events so you can figure out what you did this past week or month. I like to think that writing things down is a memory booster. Now when people say, “Did you have a good week?”, you can do a quick check and have something to say other than “Same old, same old“.

Anybody want to join me this year?