Quote of the Day: Unknown

I wish I knew who to credit this to. This isn’t my image or quote. But it’s truth is far reaching.

Cheers, james

Memories

Song lyrics take us to specific moments in time, either when we first heard it or when we truely felt them. For instance, “Dancing in the dark, middle of the night …” is a song from my teenage years. I never paid it any attention until I heard as an adult in love. Now it randomly pops into my head when I think of my hubby. I know sappy.

Another song, Next to You by Shennodah takes me back to being a little kid riding beside my dad as he sang along. The memory makes me smile, and a little sad at the same time. Jimmy Buffett’s Fruitcakes album reminds of a family vacation we took to Key West, that was our trip sound track.

Memories can uplift us, or they can haunt us. Sometimes I wonder if the “ghosts” people sense are just haunted memories that the person couldn’t or wouldn’t let go. Idiot moments from my past haunt me. While other memories of the people I love, bring me to tears and uplift me. Moments that can be relived over and over again when we need the metaphysical hug of one who has moved on.

Dreams can invoke memories or use them as a springboard into our subconscious mind. A way to understand and process those feelings we otherwise would retreat from. Journalling also allows us a safe way to work through those emotions, memories and feelings that leave us naked and raw feeling. My writing is a blend of dreams, journaling and using the raw emotion to infuse my words. Sometimes I get it right, other times not so much.

As writers, we use raw emotions, thoughts, and what if to make our readers feel a certain way.

Strange Times

These are strange times we are currently living in, and that is okay. There have been strange times for each generation before us and there will be strange times after us. A lot of people are laid off right now and worried about where the next paycheck is coming from. Hugs, my friends, help is on the way, I hope. Either government aid, warm weather or the virus losing its hold, or maybe a mix of all. Some are working from home, bless you, my children (dogs) are driving me nuts and I am still going to work. And some are hard at work, my trucking and marine shipping friends, the healthcare workers, the folks working to keep our world functioning. I salute you and applaud your efforts.

Eastern North Carolina has been fairly lucky, we have a few cases. Being in a less populous rural area, it is less of an issue than the metro areas of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and the Triad area. My thoughts and prayers and speedy recoveries to the families suffering.

A friend of mine posted about the importance of keeping a journal, a blog, or a way to remember this moment of strange times. I keep both a journal and this blog, I mention it fairly frequently. But if you don’t normally keep a journal or a blog, perhaps you might consider it. Records are left behind from every civilization. Historians worry our electronic records won’t leave a trace for future historians. That we need written records, journals, photo journals, art journals, stories, notebooks, etc. more than ever.

When was the last time you wrote an actual letter with a pen and piece of paper?

Personally I think generations from now will be seeing 4 or 5 times great grandparents photos or videos. Things pretty much live on the internet, but what if they are right?

Wouldn’t you love to leave a legacy behind for your future generations to know how it was during your strange times?

Cheers and be safe my friends, james

 

52 Questions in 52 Weeks

My first exposure to the 52 Questions in 52 weeks came via the Innovative Journaling Facebook group. (If you journal and like pens of any type I recomend this group. They are a hoot.) One of the members was starting the challenge and asked if anyone else was doing it. Several folks likewise asked what it was. 

There are 52 queations relating to your life, family history and other interesting tidbits. It provides a really good starting place for folks that are interested in writing down their family history. Questions range from earliest memories, things you enjoyed from your childhood, advice for future generations, how you met your spouse and other stuff. Anyway you pick a question you want to answer and take a week to write the answer. As little or as much as you like. This isn’t all inclusive just a starting point. 

I have later found several blog posts about and each one has a similar backstory. The person wanted to record the family history before it was lost through death or disease. One IJ-er took a journal and the sole purpose of that journal is for the challenge. I am in this same boat. Three of my grandparents have passed and my remaining grandmother is lost in Alzheimer’s fog. As I have watched her and my nieces and nephews, I realized they don’t know her pre-Alzheimer. By recording my memories it may give them a glimpse of her when she was healthy. 

I admit I keep reading over the questions and yet I haven’t put pen to paper. I get all twisted and tongue tied when I start to write down even the simplest question; Where does your name come from? 

Well I know Mom told me that my great grandfather didn’t like my name and said he would have named me Pamela, if he had known my parents didn’t have a proper name for me. According to Dad my first name came from the daughter of a man whose horse farm he worked on while in the military. I have never really asked my Mom where my first name come from. My middle name was supposed to be a mix of Linda and Jeanette ie Lynnette. But as the story goes when the nurse asked Mom she was half asleep and gave Lynn. So those are the stories I have heard related to my name. I was almost a Pamela Lynnette and I mean no disrepect to the Pamela Lynnettes of the world, but that isn’t me. In my mind’s eye, a Pamela Lynnette is a strong, willowy blonde or red headed lady, graceful and at home in her own skin. Me, I’m a short round lil brunette that lives in her head more than she should. Exrovert vs introvert. 

Well look a there I guess I just answered the first question. One down 51 to go. Cheers on this post Harvest Moon Friday, james