To journal or not to journal

I hauled out all my old diaries the other night...a huge pile of them! I have kept a diary since I was 12! In a way i have documented most of my life. I still keep a journal although I don't start off with "dear diary" anymore...lol!

It is fun to page through them, read back on what I thought and felt at 13, 15, 18..Memories otherwise I think I would forget were it not recorded for me to read. Sometimes reading these journals have brought back a memory I hadn't thought about in years. For me, keeping a
journal has been about recording my life, my thoughts, my feelings, my memories. It has been a form of escape, a creative outlet, a vent, a need. I feel fulfilled after making a journal entry. I am sure if someone had to find them years from now, when I am long since kicking up daisies, they will think, "Heck, poor woman, to live in such times!" ha ha! My journals are pretty boring I reckon. Nothing incriminating or overly embarrassing in them! I stick a lot of photos in, pictures, quotes, I draw, doodle, whatever inspires and grabs me at the time. I've told my husband that if I die, he must keep them and pass them onto my children for them to read so that they can really "know" who there mom was, thier lives are recorded in there too, my memories of
them, the funny things they did and said, their growth from pregnancy to now. It would be selfish of me not to share it with them. I wouldn't want eveyone reading them, but my hubby and kids would certainly be allowed to!

So do you keep a journal? how many years have you kept one? What sort of things do you write about/keep in it? I don't write every day, probably once a week or twice a week and then I do a recap of the week. Or sometimes I print out my blog entries and stick those in, espicially if it has been about my day.

I found this top the other day-isn't it lovely? I just love the Japanese feel to it!

Something disgusting: I heard on the news today that over 20 million liters of raw sewage leaked out into three large rivers up country from me, due to the load shedage that Eskom (our main electricity provider) has been doing lately. Every day they cut off the power to certain areas at a time to save power and re-direct it to places that need it more. We've had them here too. In fact the other night I noticed when we were on the way to our dinner, all the lights were out and the street lamps and I was freaking out thinking the restaurant would also be out, but luckily when we got there they had power! My poor sister, Jen has had power cuts up where she is living like the whole day almost now for the past week! (go check out her blog by the way, she has an awesome Freebie on it!)