Our Words Live On

Dear Diary,

I read somewhere that anything you put on the internet never goes away. It floats up there in cyber space forever. In many ways, this journal is, for each of us, a tiny bit of immortality. I thought of that when I found my grandmothers day book. She always kept a little book to write down things she read that she thought were important to remember as well as new recipes to try.

When I opened the book I was astonished that there were quotes from my favorite writers as well. I also share a love of Eleanor Roosevelt with her. My grandmother had such a wonderful view of life and growing old. She always joked that when you get to an advanced age it was important to keep active; keep moving. If you laid down too long someone was bound to through dirt on your face! She lived to be 98 and was still keeping house at 94. I never new her to sit still for long.

Everyone says, "Wouldn't you be lucky to inherit her longevity?" But I think I am more blessed to have inherited her love of reading and journaling. Her passion for recording her life in small ways. I too have that passion. She did not keep a diary as such but she noted significant things in her little day books and by seeing what she thought was important, I can understand her just as clearly.

Someday this book may be lost. Small things like this often are. By putting a photograph of her day book pages, written in her hand, here in my journal I will be assured that her words, and her memory, will live on.

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.

- Oscar Wilde