Beneficial

Beware readers this is a post about the strange things a girl like me thinks about!!!

 Lately I have been thinking about the things that we hold on to in society and the things that fall by the wayside. For instance, and this my not be the best example but most of us depend on others to grow, tend to, and harvest our food whereas once upon a time it was a lot more common to do this yourselves. In my life time, which is roughly 24 years I have watched technology change and grow and leave me in AW time and time again. This is a wonderful blessing in my life but it also has had me thinking of what the future holds. I recently finished reading a book with one of those dystopian plots where the government has far too much control. Ya know, the kind of book that seems to be a very popular theme these days, forbidden love, self discovery, adventure. The kind of stuff a girl like me loves to read. In the"society" of this book, they no longer have the ability to write, because they all type on their little personal computers so the "need" for writing is gone. I know it may be a strange thing to do but I always look for similarities to our society in books like this and the disappearance of writing from within this society leads me to wonder, could our society ever lose the ability to write? Possibly it is still the same as it was when I was in school but I know by the time I got to high school the more papers were typed instead of hand written. By my college years it was all typed. It is possible that this is just the natural progression of school and I of course would like my children to learn both typing and writing. It is just an interesting thought I had which lead me to this:

 

This is a picture I took MANY years ago when I was working with my grandfather at Soka University in California. He hated taking main highways anywhere so he very often took back roads. This particular back road is pretty famous, route 66. Someday when I have the time and funds I think it would be so fun to take route 66 from end to end. So if you have never been to Cali on route 66, you should go someday. Along that road you will find a shoe tree. I am not sure how long ago people started this tree but hundreds of people have thrown their shoes up in this tree. Back when I took this photo I was still determined to carry around my film camera forever but then when I got my dslr I quickly fell in love with it as well.

 I always loved the shoe tree. I loved that people left a piece of themselves in a way that people saw and felt impressed by. It has me thinking about how I can leave a piece of myself that will impact people or more importantly my children and their families. I have always been a journal keeper. Writing has always been my release. Although, notice I didn't say a regular journal keeper. That is something I have always regretted. I am really good at recording the times when I am angry or sad, the times when I really need to vent. I even recorded a really bad text message breakup word for word and signed my name next to a promise to myself never to do that again, just to try and move on. My fear is that, at this current moment, the legacy I am leaving is a girl who probably need therapy, who had a lot of heartbreak and didn't always make the best decisions. Possibly I am pretending to be more than that and in reality I really do need therapy. Either way I am making a personal goal for myself to include good and uplifting things in my journal. To record those moments when I feel the overwhelming conformation of the spirit for an answered prayer or the moments when I couldn't think of anything I would rather do than be a mother. I want to be the kind of person who remembers the good and is thankful for it. 

I am sure you are kind of wondering how the top part of this post has anything to do with the bottom part. My explanation may not be the best but lest me try and put it into words. I think that looking at something that is handwritten gives it life, character, and humanity. I never want to lose that in myself and I never want my posterity to lose that. My way of hanging on to that ability and passing it down is through my journals. I hope that makes sense at least a little. :)

I hope you enjoyed this look into my twisted brain.