The Three Journals

Many, many years ago, I read my grandmother's diary.  It wasn't as sneaky as it sounds.  It was more like a rite of passage.  The journal came to me in a big, red 3-ring binder with page after page of handwritten entries - one for each day - from January 1941 through April 1944.  She and my grandfather were missionaries in China during WWII, so there were stories of air raids, food shortages, downed pilots, and more.  I was captivated - but not always by the historical context.  What struck me the most was the emotion - her disappointment when a recipe flopped, her excitement when a Redbook magazine arrived, her joy when her sons were born.  The real-life account of a woman in her mid-20s as she navigated the world around her.

As a child, I loved to bake.  My mother taught me the recipe for the family pound cake - which is still both my go-to gift and my guilty pleasure.  Later I learned that the original baker of that pound cake also kept a diary.  My great great grandmother lived in Alabama with her husband, children, and 'housekeeping staff' in the late 1800s.  Her diary entries, also from her mid 20s, give a glimpse into her world - her struggles, joys, and fears.  Every time I baked that cherished pound cake, I thought more about the similarities between the two diaries of my ancestors.

All my life I have kept diaries and journals.  The writing process clears my head.  In the days before Amazon, I remember searching every bookstore and gift shop for the perfect journal and pen - spiral-bound, unlined pages and gel ink.  Though my journal preferences evolved over time, the habit stuck with me.  I journaled extensively in my 20s - through graduate school, my first job and my first apartment, my father's struggle with cancer, and more.  My journal was my therapy.  Years later, I was finally able to go back and read my own writing.  The things that I struggled with seemed strangely similar to the diaries of my grandmother and great great grandmother.   

I love the humanity in these diaries - the details, the recipes, the stories, the lists.  Three women, three centuries, three very different circumstances, yet all three had common themes.  Love.  Family obligation.  Self doubt.  Financial worries.  Birth.  Death.  Purpose.  Fear.  

This blog is a journey through these three journals.  I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have.