Thirty Days

Thirty days. That is how long I am giving myself although I hope it ends up being longer. I've read that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Then I read that it is a myth. I am not sure what to believe but 30 is the number that popped into my head last week and so 30 days it is. 

There are a lot of things I would like to do. And so for the next 30 days, I am going to do those things. 

This idea came into view last week while I was on vacation.  I found myself thinking about a friend who lost her father. It was an unexpected loss. One minute she was talking to him and the next, she wasn't. Her loss has affected me more than I imagined it would. I never met her father, but when she writes about him, I can tell the profound impact he had on her. The stories from her childhood have me wishing that I could have been one of the lucky ones to walk through the revolving door of her home. And these stories reminded me of the importance of writing. 

I sent her a card with three field journals. It was a small gesture to encourage her to write down these stories as memories not to be forgotten. And I found myself thinking. 

I know first hand the pain she is feeling as I lost my own mother 24 years ago.  I started writing when I was 14 years old. I have journal upon journal on a bookshelf in my bedroom. These journals tell of my everyday life. But then the writing stopped. June 5, 1998. The day my mother died. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to start back up. 

The death of my friend's father has brought up emotions and memories of what I went through so so many years ago. I know how she is feeling just by looking at her; it is as if there is an unspoken bond between us now. 

And this death has me thinking about my own family. What do I want them to know when I am long gone? What memories will they share about me? And I can't think of a better way to do this than through writing.

So for the next 30 days you can follow me as I try to pick up my pen again and write. Write about things that are important to me and memories that I have and things that are just floating in my head waiting to be turned into a story. 

And maybe, just maybe, you might be inspired to write too. Little pieces of you that will become treasures to someone else. 

Memories from my life that will one day become my family's treasures.