Journalling

Do you keep a journal or diary?  I have been in the habit of doing that since I was a teenager and it is a good way of keeping track of when certain things happened.  It is unseasonable warm here today and I was wondering what the weather had been like last year and found that it had been much the same.  I remember that it was fairly cold on Rememberance Day but had forgotton that we still hadn't had any snow.  If I had looked back farther to 2007 when we were in Edmonton, I am sure I would have found that it had been much colder.
I also discovered that we picked our little dog up a year ago yesterday.  It is amazing to look at her today and remevber the tiny, white fluff ball she had been.  We had to drive quite a distance to get her and I made sure I brought a large towel for my lap, paper towels for mishaps and some water as well as a tiny harness and leash.  All very necessary items when you are transporting a puppy..
We hadn't picked out a name for her yet so on the trip back my husband and I kept thinking of names while I tried to stop the pup from crawling all over the front of the car.  She wanted on my shoulder, on my husband's shoulder, the back of the car seat-anywhere that was higher than where she was.  I was beginning to think we had got a kitten.  All that climbing did give us a name though.  I had read the story of Heidi, the little Swiss girl that lived with her grandfather when I was a child and it seemed appropriate to name a climbing dog after her.
Shortly after receiving her name, Heidi let us know why she had been trying to get to a different place.  I shouted at my husband to 'pull over' and I gingerly got out of the car with the dog.  Roger came over to take the leash while I cleaned up.  Thank goodness I had brought supplies.
Since then she has provided us with a lot of laughter, exercise and love.  Of course there is also expense, irritation and inconvenience but she is well worth it. And she still loves to climb.
If I hadn't kept a journal, I wouldn't have been reminded of Heidi's homecoming or the anniversary of another event that happened the day prior. 
By November  of 2008, we had moved into our new home and had all our services except the phone and internet.  I had been calling Bell regularly since August and was getting increasingly frustrated.  When my mother died, I had to use my cell (which kept cutting out) to talk to my family in England about arrangements.  Every time I called Bell, I got a different excuse and a different installment date.  Finally, On Nov. 7th, we got service.  The following week my internet was hooked up.  Happy day.
I don't write in my journal every day unless something momentous is happening but, when I do, I like to record the weather and anything that might be making the news.  I keep it in my bedside table and often pick it (or one of the two previous ones I have done since being married) up and read back over past events.  It does help keep things in perspective to see how my life has changed over the years.
Blessings,