The Gift of Journaling
My Momsy passed away on March 27, 2009. In March of 2008 we had moved them to an assisted living (they later came to live with me in Dec 2008) and for the move we pretty much took the house apart to prepare it for renters. They could only fit so much in the little assisted living apartment, so things were given away, sold, and divided up between me and my sisters. It was not a complicated process as my Momsy was one very organized keeper of her home! She had everything labeled and outlined in notebooks, as to what when to whom, when she no longer needed her earthly belongings.
We found large envelopes labeled with “Lydia” “Martha” and “Ruth” on them in the hope chest at the end of her bed. We took them home in a silent reverence only to open them when things were quiet, and we were alone.
When I found the time, I carefully opened my pouch bulging with memories. I was instantly covered with huge waves of emotions. My Momsy had saved every single little homemade card, note, letter we had ever sent her. All the cards my children had made in their little childish ways, with my instruction, using glue, pressed flowers, cotton balls, markers and crayon stubs had been carefully saved in the brown paper overstuffed envelopes labeled with my name. Then other large envelope parcels with the names of my sisters on each, revealed handwritten journals in my own Momsy’s hand. We had all given her blank journals at various occasions. We did not know she was filling every page over her years and even more journals. We have ones that are mere spiral bound composition books but are neatly covered in pretty wrapping paper with poems and cards glued to the front and then sealed in clear covers.
Opening each one, we found pages of her heart poured out over years of her life. Prayers written out to her Lord. Pages of specific and numbered prayer requests for her children and grandchildren and family. Prayer requests for help and strength through trials. Pages of Scripture copied in her hand and notes as to what it meant to her. Pages of poems and hymns she had clipped from various sources and were special to her glued in.
I found one she had put in my pkg to return to me I had forgotten all about. That year so long ago, I had searched and found a blank leather journal with the thought to personalize it for her with my own love of flowers. I had carefully picked summer flowers from walks and summer outings and dried and pressed them and glued them to the journal cover. Then inserted a satin ribbon and charm for a bookmark. I sealed it all in clear contact paper and wrote an inscription to her:
Flowers collected from
Greenville, SC * Fountain Inn, SC *Gray Court, SC
Flowers pressed by Martha G. Greene
in the Year of 1995
Click here on how to Make A Pressed Flower Journal so you can make your own memory keepsakes!
Find my original art on the covers of these blank journals available with wide-ruled, bullet or blank pages here!
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