Taking the hint or heeding a prompting?

Either way, it's a good idea.  A few days ago, my daughter blogged about blogging.  It was very good, as are all of her blogs.  She's a writer.  She needs to write.  'Tis her fate to write.  Seriously.  She could go pro, but she's busy doing what she does even better than writing--mothering.  Her blog encouraged others to write, to blog specifically.  She reminded all of us that we have stories to tell and important events to record, and that it doesn't so much matter how we write, but that we write.  Easy for a gifted writer to say.

Today at church, we had two speakers who also spoke about the importance of keeping records. One speaker read from his journal.  It was a nice entry about his little boys and how they tend to learn by experience instead of instruction.  Something about not believing their dad when he told them that breaking up chunks of obsidian will create sharp, jagged pieces that might cup fingers.  Two boys and four cut fingers later, they believed him.  It will be a journal entry read over and over and will probably be used in upcoming talks by various members of the family.

I am also a writer.  Or was.  No, I still am.  I started writing when I was in elementary school as my daughter did, and I, too, may have been able to go pro had I dedicated more time to the prospect.  Whether it is that frustration of a dream not fulfilled or not believing that my stories, real or imagined, matter anymore, I have stopped writing.  It's time to start again.

I also agree with my daughter.  We all need to consider putting our stories into some format that will last.  Journals are fine, blogging is great, and even scrapbooking can be a valid form of family history.  It all has value.  We gain perspective and clarity when we write and looking back on those writings can often add even more clarity in hindsight.  I'm also old enough to have multi-generation experience with diaries and journals.  I'm grateful for my grandmother's diaries and moreso her family histories.  I'm relieved that I interviewed my mother and wrote a short history, because she was not a diary writer.  I actually believe that my grandchildren and even my children may read my various journals some day with appreciation.

So, I think I'll take the hint; follow the prompt.  I have several journals I can add to, a dozen unfinished scrapbooks, numerous creative works in progress and this blog.  Thanks everyone.  I feel better already.