The Red Leather Diary Discussion Group discussion

...a forgotten chunk of your life, full of adolescent angst and passion, was handed to you?

I worte in a diary/journal from the day I turned 13 up until I graduated high school. Every single day. I kept them for the daughter I would have someday because I hated that whenever i asked my mom a question about her life she always said "I can't remember". I wanted my daughter to be able to sit down and read what I went through every day that I was 13, 14, 15 etc. so she would know I understood what she was feeling. My daughter died at 8 days old and I'm not able to have kids now. I still have my diaries though and I do journey down into the basement or closet they are stored in and sit down and read a day here and a day there. Its even more fun to do now that I'm with "the secret love of my high school years" I laugh at what I thought it would be like to be with Brad and what its REALLY like! LOL

I'm going to start reading The Red Leather Diary shortly for my group discussion in Chicks on Lit and I look forward to getting out my diaries again because I know it will make me want to remember my forgotten years too.

If anyone wants to post an entry from their diary here--that would be interesting. We could see how our entries "speak" to each other. I bet we are all a lot more similar (yet still individual) than we think!

Yikes! What a great (and scary) idea...

How would you feel if a forgotten chunk of your life, full of adolescent angst and passion, was handed to you?

To respond to the original question:

I think I'd feel stupid. Honestly there are times I look back at my adolescent self/journals from decade(s) ago and think, "What a bitch!" Or "Is it possible to be more embarrassing?" And "God, I hope no one ever sees this other than me. Anyone have a lighter???" But the fact is, none of us are present selves without that shadow of adolescence inside. I'd like to be able to look back at the teenage/early college Amanda and learn something from her. But I wonder if it's too soon. Or if I'm simply in a place right now can't think of her affectionately.

I wonder how I'll feel about this subject matter in a week. A month. A year...

I'll have to go through my diaries and pick a really juicy entry.....that might be incredibly embarrassing....LORD :)

We should start a whole 'nother thread for it. Oh, why am I saying that? I'm not ready for this kind of personal psychoanalysis!!! :)

Lets do this on a whole other thread...I like that idea. You start it Amanda!! ;) Let's pick one year or one age....I must say I only have diaries up until 1992 though.

I don't think I have any BEFORE 1992! Hee hee. Maybe 1996 or 1997 are my earliest. I started journaling seriously in college. I know I'd write in high school, but not necessarily in journals. Hmmmm... I wonder if I still have any of the notes I used to pass back and forth in class. Now that would be FUN! Ok, the next time I go to my parents' house, I'm raiding their attic... :)

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_g...

Here's the new thread! Post there for journals.


But keep this thread alive, too, if you have something to add!!! How would you feel if a forgotten chunk of your life was handed to you? Loaded question for sure...

I think I would be excited if someone handed me a piece of my past. Then again, I might be a little embarassed about what I found important back then (probably boys and horses and nothing else - well, maybe books). At the same time, I think it would be interesting to see if I had lived up to the hopes and dreams I had for myself.

It seems as if this opportunity to in life, gazing into our past, is a privilege we all deserve. I think it's important we make this happen, especially for the people around us, our parents and grandparents.