The lost art of writing on paper

ASid got this cool culminating activity for History. He could be someone born toward the end of the 19th century and who got to live through both world wars. Interestingly, he decided to be an upper class woman named Lydia! He picked the option to have Lydia write her experiences in a journal. Then he realized that his handwriting is terrible and recruited me to write in the journal he would eventually be submitting as part of the culminating activity. He made the request from me several weeks ago. However, he left the entire activity to the very last weekend before it was due! So I had just one night, before it was due, to do the writing!

It took me a couple of hours to do cursive writing on 16 sides of pages in a regular sized journal. My fingers were cramped by the end of it - I used muscles I hadn't in a long time. It felt good though writing in a journal. The actual journal was gifted to me by ASid and Craigley a few Christmases ago. It is an antique looking, simple and elegant journal. Their hope was that I would write in it. Strangely enough, I did end up writing in it while appropriating the voice of another woman who is a fictional character created by my child!

In a strange coincidence, a few days later, I actually received pictures of 3 letters I wrote in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Those letters were written between my 14th and 16th birthdays to a good friend. He preserved them and it was bizarre seeing my own handwritten letters after 27-29 years later! Reading them made me realize that not much had changed between then and now.

…I was complaining about how I write letters regularly and no one replies to me. I was sadly documenting about how my dad was trying to teach me to drive and how I was driving him crazy! I was worried about all the people in my life and was hoping they would all be OK…

Seeing those letters got me all nostalgic. I almost felt ancient thinking about the good old days! I believe I stopped writing letters somewhere in the mid-nineties. That was when most everyone I knew got an email account.

Now, I look back at ASid's assignment as an opportunity to examine and appreciate the past not just through fictional eyes, but one’s own as well. ASid did a great job writing as Lydia. I almost felt like I could be Lydia and I didn't mind writing “her words” in the journal. However, at the end of the day, I am who I am...and apparently, I am still the same person I was when I was 14 years old.

My fond wish is for the boys to remain just the way they are many years from now! When they visit these pages, I hope they can relate to who they were, get nostalgic and feel good!