Legacy of Journaling!

 Writing has always had a special place in my heart and its roots go way back to my childhood, to my father, my inspiration. 

My father has kept a journal, a daily diary since he was, I believe 20 years old, sort of chronicles, at first of his life and then our lives. He would write down all he did every day and along with that, he would also write down community happenings, a little note of news, local, nationwide and or global events which occurred on that day. 

He has a record of everything and anything that happened in our tiny community where I grew up and where record keeping was almost nonexistent. A tiny catholic rural community in India. He meticulously noted birthdays, anniversaries, and even deaths, along with details of dignitaries, clergy coming and going. He was a walking encyclopedia of our community's history. 

He is well known in the community partly for that reason, as a historian, their source of information. They come looking for him when they need to corroborate, or fact check certain community events from the past. His commitment to daily journaling was noteworthy, pun intended.

So given this kind of background, I too had started keeping a diary when I went to college. And when I moved to the USA, it became even more of a commitment as I was the first one out of my family to go overseas, to a foreign land of which they had only heard. I too wrote down details of everything and anything of what I did daily.

 But when the children arrived, the writing took a back seat. I still did write in my diary but now they were only bullets, of mostly things the children were accomplishing or doing on that day and sometimes it would be weeks before I even caught up with it.

 Then came the digital camera and with that writing seemed even less necessary. Why write when I could take pictures of anything and everything as a record keeping. And in fact, like my father, I have now become the source of pictures for friends, family, and community. Shortly thereafter arrived Facebook and then things changed for me. That was a significant turning point in my writing journey. It gave me an opportunity to share my inner thoughts, my so-called ramblings with my friends and family all at the same time. 

Over the years, it was sporadic thoughts but now I am focusing more on it. 

People ask me what I am up to these days, this is what I am doing, focusing on myself. This is sort of my self-care. I do not know where it will take me, but I have been enjoying this journey so far. It is fulfilling to my soul, it is letting me express myself, reflect on my experiences while trying to make sense of the world around me. It has taken various forms, from writing letters home, journaling, photo journaling to blogging. 

My writing still revolves a lot around a picture, a photograph. I love it when friends and family comment on my posts, they message me telling me how much they enjoyed reading them or could relate to what I had written. Just by simply writing about today, I can’t help but reflect on some of things from my childhood, how far I have come from there to here, literally thousands of miles, with blessings, love and how it has helped me discover myself, to learn, educate , to further broaden my horizons, engage with the community. 

I sincerely hope you will continue to join me on this journey. I am grateful to all of you. Ramblings on a Sunday evening. What about you? Are you inspired by anyone in your family? Do let me know your thoughts in the comments. I appreciate you taking the time to read my unfiltered ramblings.

Pictured here is my dad, doing his thing, writing in his diary.