I was just looking at a picture of my mom and I and I realized that she was just about my age now.
My mom was a grandmother of 4, married and looking to reduce her work hours to part time. I was living in San Diego and remember her visiting me and hanging out. She was so supportive of my move, she has always been supportive of me even if she didn’t agree with my decisions.
Unfortunately my dad died young. Anyone who has experienced this knows the day that you live past the age your parent died. It’s a sigh of relief and an odd phenomenon that only those in our club understand.
Or not. Yeah, I didn’t date much then, still don’t. Whatever
February 8
6th grade (yes, we have a rare 6th grade entry): (in the corner I wrote “Gary Coleman’s B.day”) Dad has company. B
I don’t recall who the company was but I’m guessing they were work people. And I think it was purely coincidence that they were there on Gary Coleman’s birthday as I was probably the only member of the family who celebrated. Yes, I loved him and “Diff’rent Strokes” was a favorite show for a long time (though I can’t recall why it was spelled diff‘rently. Knowing the life he had now makes me sad.
I also am not sure why inspired this sudden inspiration to journal at this time. The company? Arnold?
8th grade: I went to [high school], I like it.
I got to visit the high school I was planning to attend. My guide was my cousin who was a freshman and a good mentor/role model. Thanks for being there for me, cuz.
February 14
8th grade: I didn’t get a flower from anyone, I was really hurt.
Oh kid, I’m so sorry. It does hurt. I didn’t have many friends at the school and certainly not any strong enough that I would give a flower to or expect in return. It did sting though. When people talk about bullying and the wussification of kids they sometimes forget what it’s like back then. Now I don’t give a sh*t that I don’t have a valentine. It was tough back then because it appeared to be great for everyone else. My guess is that there were others hurt as well. Why didn’t the teachers make sure that each kid had at least one? Not dogging on the teachers since they have so much to do but someone should have made sure that no one was without.
Pity party over.
That was it for the month of February. Rest up for a wild March though, it appears to come in like a lion.
Happy Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday to all who celebrate. I give you all a flower.
The internet. Yes, it has its problems but it has changed how we live and hopefully for the better. Although a part of me is nostalgic for the days when information wasn’t at our fingertips.
I remember looking up information in the encyclopedias we had or going to the library. I was excited when we got the year in review book, it had all kind of new information. We traveled cross country with the triptik books from AAA and I bought the Thomas Guide when I moved to San Diego. We were perhaps more resourceful and more patient. There was excitement when a book, magazine or catalog was released. We ran to the mail to see what came, perhaps the item we purchased from a catalog.
Despite the nostalgia I love the internet. As an introvert, I am more comfortable with less human interaction and I explore more. I can look things up at odd times, though I really try not to look at my phone when I’m in bed. When watching television I immediately go to IMDB- one of the top 3 websites IMHO. Trip planning is incredibly easy.
8th grade: I got accepted to [high school]. I am so happy.
Huge thanks to my mom who somehow found the money to pay for my private school. It made a difference and some of my closest friends are from high school.
February 2
8: We got some weird calls. Some guy was saying that [sister] was under arrest. I was scared.
Yeah, that was effed up but ended up being some jerks playing a prank. This was at a time when tracing calls was more difficult.
February 3
8: [cousin’s] christening. It was fun.
As most religious experiences are for 8th graders. It was my first christening of another religion. I’m sure the party after was fun. These cousins were younger and I loved playing with them.
February 6
8: We had no school today.
Snow? Teachers’ conference? Who knows. Having a snow day was the best. We wouldn’t know until the morning and we would have to wait for our town to be called on the radio. Kids knew the towns that preceded theirs alphabetically. Good times
Not mine but my dad’s. It was an Apple III, look it up. It was a business computer that was before the Mac. My dad got it for an exorbitant amount of money. It had certain business functions that he liked. Pre-excel and word. He built a huge desk that had a place for the dot matrix printer.
One night he came home with floppy disks that had games on them. I was never into video games but I really liked one of them, it was so basic but fun.
My dad died suddenly after buying the computer. We kept it and used it as an expensive word processor. I often volunteered to type papers for group projects. It became obsolete fairly quickly so we couldn’t trade it in for anything. I did read that years later it became valuable but it was in the landfill by that time.
I wish that I had taken more of an interest in it. Really I wish that my dad lived longer and could have taught me more about it. We were so ahead of the curve with technology but didn’t know what the future would bring.
Only one more entry for January. Looking ahead, February looks more lively so stay tuned.
January 28
9th grade: A space shuttle blew up today. It had the first civilian on it. She would have came to our school to talk. It was so scary, her kids were watch[ing] her.
This still gives me chills and is a “I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard” moment. I was in Biology lab but ran down to our campus ministry office because I had to exchange a book. I was patiently waiting as a young nun was looking for something. Finally I said that I need to exchange a book. She looked up at me and said, “Do you know what just happened?”. I shook my head and she said “The space shuttle Challenger just blew up and I need to find a prayer”. I walked away stunned and went back to Biology lab where everyone was quiet so I assumed they knew. A few minutes later they make an announcement over the loudspeaker and the class gasped, they hadn’t heard. A nun at our school had taught Christa McAuliffe and was obviously devastated. Christa was going to come to our school to speak, I remember being excited about that. A few years ago I listened to a podcast about the teacher in space, the story is incredible.
Despite the few entries I am enjoying this exercise of reviewing old diary entries. I forgot certain details and it gives me some insight into my little life back then.
Recapping last week, someone was sick and someone died. All caught up.
January 19
8th Grade: Mom and I went to [see grandparents]. Grandma looks good and Granpa looked sad.
Again with misspelling “Grandpa”. This was my nana’s birthday, my grandfather’s was a week or so later so it made sense to see them. My grandmother was a joy, sweet and little and fun. My grandfather was known to be cranky but he was very good to the grandchildren (granchildren). He was sad because he broke his damn wrist.
They looked like Mr and Mrs Claus with their white hair. They also looked way older than their ages though that was the norm back then. I remember playing a game with my nana when I was about 5. The game said ages 5-105; I asked her if she was older than 105, she was maybe 60.
9th grade: Went to [see grandparents]. Fr. [family priest] died. I can’t believe this year hasn’t been good so far.
Someone died ✅ He was a good priest. Sometimes now I hear people dying and I think wow, that is a lot but I guess it is constant.
Getting back to my earlier post where I review my old diaries. TLDR? My mom was having a rough week when I was in 5th grade and I was having a rough week in 8th grade.
January 12
9th grade: My old guidance counselor died, I feel so bad.
He was a really nice guy and clearly left an impression as he wasn’t actually my guidance counselor but he helped me with something.
January 13
9th grade: Grampa broke his wrist. I feel so bad.
So I’ll fully admit that I just looked up if it should be “feel so bad” or “feel so badly” and it’s the former though “so” may not be needed. Also, when did I change from “Grampa” to “Grandpa”? Yes, that was a rough on for him.
January 17
9: [petty family drama] and a [relative] was in the hospital
All normal stuff for a young freshman(woman). I guess this week is lots of medical shit going on or that’s what I liked to write about.
It appears as though my 5th grade schedule did not allow me to write in my diary for a month or so. I do remember having a bad cold which ended up being allergies. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures later in the winter.
I have too much Christmas stuff. I get sentimental about the ornaments and decorations given to me and can’t throw things out. I have too much Christmas-related stuff and every year I try to clear out but I don’t and then I struggle to put it all back.
I have had some old diaries laying around and I’ve decided to journal them this year. These are from 5th to 9th grades, I’m hiding personal details and names to protect the innocent (not that anything crazy happened nor do I think anyone will read this). I seem to fall off after a week or so and then pick up again at random times. I’m catching up the first few days.
January 1
5th Grade: it was very boring last night I stayed up till 1:45. C+
I graded my days, I think the idea was stolen from a Judy Blume book. So 1st off, 1:45? WTF, parents! I do remember the prior years my cousins were there so it was more fun. That year my dad and I played a game and my mom was sick.
8th Grade: [I commented on my cousins not teasing me]
I was the youngest and I was sensitive
January 2
5: It is really snowing right now, we have about 6”. Mom is really sick. B+
My mom had a cold, just a bad cold. Even so, I am hoping the snow boosted the grade
8: We went back to school
January 3
5: Today me and [friend] went ice skating. Mom is more siker. We might not go to school cause were gonna have a storm tomorro. A
Holy f&@! get this kid to school pronto for a grammar and spelling lesson. Also, I think that we were in the background of the news as we were skating- my tv debut.
8: I stayed home from school because I woke up at 9. [sister] came home.
Well played, me. To be fair, I was going through some stuff. It was a tough time and I wish that I had journaled more.
January 4
5: We had no school today. B+
8: We would have been living in IL for 7 years.
Right about now the novelty of writing is wearing off
January 5
5: Today we went back to school it was boring. [friend] likes new school. B
8th grade me jumped ship.
January 6
5: Mom got in an accident but she isn’t hurt. She is really losing her voice. B
Shit year for mom.
So the rigors of school/life got the best of me for a while as I have lots of blank pages. More to come…
Introverted runner and other stuff 