I started journaling with Journal (Book) #1 in November 1973 and continue today with Book #146. That is roughly 3.9 journals a year over 37 years! In the photo below I show Books #1 to #5 and #141 to #145. You will have to visualize the pile the rest of the 135 Books would make! I also show current Book #146 open to the page on which I pasted a 2010 valentine poem I composed for "TLW" (The Loving Wife) Rose. In the photo, I have digitized the poem and most of the writing so as not to embarrass her. You will therefore have to wonder what in the world is "Mandolin Love".
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The Journal size is about 5-1/4 in wide by 8 in. high by 1/2 in thick and each contains about 70 pages (140 pages front and back). They are simply office supply quality "Record Books". I preferred the spiral bound ones but they are no longer available. I've often looked at the nice leather bound journals in Barnes & Noble but always felt that whatever I wrote was not elegant enough for them. Also they tended to be of various sizes and thicknesses and I wanted from the get go to standardize my journal format. When finished with a particular journal, I heat seal it into a laminate plastic pouch (polyethylene on the inside for sealing and polypropylene on the outside for toughness) for preservation.
A journal is a (usually) daily written record of personal experiences and observations. My journals are mostly factual but often I have emotional entries. Still, any journal could certainly be read by family members and friends without too much embarrassment. On the other hand, my wife's periodic journals are "hot and steamy" so she tells me! I have not read any of them.
I began journaling in 1973, largely because both I and my (then) wife recommitted our lives to Christ through the Catholic Charismatic Movement ("Baptized in the Spirit" was the common terminology) and I wanted keep some sort of record of what happened afterwards. I also believed that at that moment in time, I received a gift to write poetry and wanted some place to keep it. The reader will have to judge if the poetry is any good, but at least writing it provided me an expressive outlet.
The frequency with which I fill the pages of my journals depends on what is happening in my life. I might fill a journal in a year or a month. For the past 15 years, I have been pasting more and more computer generated text into the journals.
Each July (for the past 37 years beginning in 1973) I have attended a Thursday evening-through Sunday evening "silent" retreat at the Jesuit Retreat House (called Demontreville) in Lake Elmo, MN just east of St. Paul, MN. The retreats go year round and our July retreat has 50-55 other men there also. Since 1987, I have tucked 2 or 3 of my sealed journals into my luggage (covering an early, middle and late span of years) to read them during quiet times in my room between public sessions in the Main Chapel. I am always amazed at what I have written: Sometimes showing naivety and stupidity and other times showing brilliant insight! As I get older, I hope I have more of the latter.
