How Pickety Paper Bits began with my birthday.
I’ve been writing/drawing in diaries and journals for over 40 years. My love of them stems from my grandmother, who passed away when I was only ten years old. I wish I had more time with her when she was here, but until we meet again, I dedicate this to you, Grandma Porter:
When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I had my one-and-only sleep over at my grandma’s house, just me and her.
After washing the dinner dishes, we sat down to enjoy our dessert. While I was eating my pie, my grandma opened up her diary and started writing. I asked her what she was doing. She said, “I am writing down what happened today.” I asked her how often she wrote in her diary. “Every day,” she said.
I was amazed at her structure and dedication! This was something I had really only experienced in school. To do this by choice every day was a powerful concept to my young brain.
I asked her how long she had been keeping a diary. “Oh, a long time,” she said.
“As long as I have been born?”, challenging her.
Instead of replying, she got up and walked to her floor-to-ceiling cupboards and opened one of them. On every shelf there were diaries. 😳 Each one had a year written on the spine in a meticulously organized fashion. She immediately reached for the diary that read 1970 and opened it towards the back of the book. She zeroed in on the page she was looking for, then handed me the diary.
On the pages she showed me were the sentences she had made on the days that surrounded the day that I had been born, September 9th, 1970. "Warm and no rain today, so we mowed the front yard." "Made an apple pie for the neighbor." "Joey had a little girl this morning."
The notations were nothing extraordinary and lacked gushing emotion, but the words that were written forever changed my life! I was influenced so much that I wanted to start my own diary immediately!
The very next day she took me to the Hallmark store and bought me my first diary. It was light green with a little clasp that locked and it was a 5-year diary. I still have it. The notations I made are not extraordinary either, but what that little diary represents in my heart is so much more than any words that could have been written down.
Today, I'm deeply passionate about journaling, so much so that I create my own custom journals to capture my experiences. I also love teaching others how to make their own journals to document their journeys.
If you're inspired to create your own journal, download my free tutorial on "How to Make A Junk Journal Signature." It will get you started by a simple way to construct the inside of a journal. 25 Creative Journal Cover Ideas & 7 Basic Rules of Page Layout are included!
One can never tell how you will influence those you love tomorrow, but if this story touched you as deeply as it has affected my life, perhaps that is enough for you to know that your creativity, your journaling, your journey, your mental health all matter!
—Happy Journaling, Jolyn
Photo of Mildred and Donald, my Grandma & Grandpa Porter
