Every weekday morning I invite you Behind the Scenes at my studio.
Today: The events in Paris and going through my Mom’s things this weekend has me thinking about legacy and looking for light.
Mentioned in Today’s Show
Today: The events in Paris and going through my Mom’s things this weekend has me thinking about legacy and looking for light.
To answer your question, my journals are private. I keep all my journals because I sometimes go back through old ones to pull ideas for my writing, but I don’t assume anyone other than me will read them. I live on my own, so I don’t have to think about other people snooping through them. Actually, I hope none of my family members ever see them – it would be pretty embarrassing for me!
I keep all of mine too and definitely revisit them on occasion. Thank you for sharing your take on the topic!
Jamie, As you were describing your mother and her impact on her world, you could have been describing yourself. The similarities are profound. Regarding my journals, there were a series of journals during a deeply tumultuous time in my life that were necessary to move through the gunk. I ceremoniously destroyed those journals earlier this year (though I electronically noted things that were important to me). I share some of the things in my journal, and I expect the decision to read or not to read my journals when I’m gone will be thoughtfully made by those who survive me.
Oh, isn’t that wonderful, Sam. Thank you. When I look at how engaged she was in the world around her, how interested, I think I definitely got that from her :)
And thank you for sharing your journal thoughts. How did you feel after letting those journals go? How do you hope your loved ones will decide, Sam? I wonder if my mom would like us to read it, would be horrified or wouldn’t care a wit.
Well Jamie, the shredding of my journals was a huge catharsis for me. I felt lighter with each page gone. I thanked the experiences that caused such turmoil and for the wisdom gained through the process. These are the things I couldn’t see while going through the turmoil – in the “eye of the storm.” My family (husband and kids) know me so very well, I think they’d want to read them at some point. And I’d be ok with that (this is something very new for me). Interesting topic to ponder, don’t you think?!
The way you described your mom as a photographer triggered something new in the way I can look at my parent’s photographs. For Veteran’s Day last week, I was looking through my dad’s book of army photos and how well he documented everything. I have never really thought of him as a photographer before, but for that time in his life he was. And he captioned many of the photos, too. You helped me to see a side of him I hadn’t noticed clearly before.