I don’t remember how the idea popped into my head. I think I read it on a blog one day. A mother was talking about a journal she kept with her teenage daughter. I thought it was sweet that they wrote to each other in it. Taking turns holding onto it and opening up about things. I thought it was a great way to keep the communication open at that age because I remember what it was like to be a teenager and all the questions that went through my head. I never felt comfortable talking to my Mom about them. I remember after I read about it I swore I would do this with Madison some day. Then my husband starting working crazy hours and when life gets busy we all know what can happen. Relationships suffer, the kids schedule gets thrown off and we can’t forget the lack of sleep. This is why I created a family journal.
We have many family birthdays in our family come Fall time. Myself, my daughter and my husband all have birthdays in the Fall and I wanted to make my husband feel like he was a part of our day as we celebrated my daughters birthday since it fell on a random Tuesday, a non-school day. So I instantly thought of that story about the journal and figured why not start this now. Why not keep the lines of communication more open and start it as a family journal? I jumped on it and purchased a blank journal. The night before my husbands birthday I had my daughter draw him a birthday cake and write her name and Happy Birthday (which is huge for her because she is still learning her letters) I then wrote him a letter explaining what the purpose of this journal was all about. I left it on the counter for him so when he left for work (the man leaves the house at 4am!) he would have one of his gifts to start his day.
Then when my daughters birthday came around the following week my husband and I both wrote her a letter expressing how proud we were of her and how turning 5 meant she was a big girl now. My husband and I continue to write to each other. It’s not every day but at night when I’m zoning to Nashville or Chicago Fire and I watch my sleeping husband I realize how lucky I am. How hard he works and how much I wish I could tell him this right now but he’s sleeping! Instead I grab the journal and write. It’ll be left on the kitchen counter and as Madison gets older we will start to talk about it more, as she learns to write I’ll encourage her to write notes to us. I will show her the letters that my husband and I write to each other. I’ll even let them both draw pictures for us. As my kids get older I’d like to them to each have their own but for now………..That is Why I created a Family Journal.
