Peter’s late father Norm—whom I sadly never got to meet—kept daily notes for 54 years. In 1990, he migrated his note taking to a single Microsoft Word file. At some point after his dad’s death, Peter was able to access the file, and the treasure trove of fascinating, and oft times banal, entries.
I have smirked, at times, when Peter and his brothers read examples of the detailed things their father noted, like this bullet point from this day in 2017:
- went to Physiolinks but I was too early so I went to the A&W in the mall for a coffee, started to drink it but it was too hot so left it in the car.
His notes didn’t have to be deep reflections to reveal how he was spending his time, what he cared about, what he was proud of, what he was troubled by. Eight years ago on this day that was the heat, some knee pain, and itchy legs at night.
I kept a daily journal for the first five years of Lali’s life. As I always intended it to be for her, it doesn’t have the full brunt of how parenting can break a person at times. Though, like Norm’s entries, it won’t be hard for her to read between the lines.
I think I stopped writing when I could no longer get the beautiful Pantone "Colour of the Year" journals I was using. I surely regret that I made aesthetics more important than keeping track of our stories.
Life is passing by quickly, and I cannot remember the extraordinary, let alone the ordinary. To remedy this a little, we popped into The Bookmark on the weekend and left with a gorgeous Some Lines a Day five year journal by Leuchtturm1917, thanks to help from the awesome Lori Cheverie, who has managed there for 35 years.
We wrote some short notes in it last night to kick things off. I am excited to capture today too. I believe, perhaps naively, that together with Peter, we’ll keep it going and be able to see what we were up on July 6, 2025-2029. It is certainly in Peter’s genes to keep track!
Here’s a draft:
- Sitting at The Black & White Café in St. Peter’s to write a blog post.
- Peter trying out his new yellow lens, which make him look quite different in a “I am Bono” kind of way.
- L gone to see E.
- Concerned about how O will adapt to upcoming changes that we believe will be really positive.
- Were planning to host Mom, Dad and B for a BBQ but the weather kept changing.
- About to walk on the Confed Trail for a half hour back to our car.
- Peter getting to see what being with someone lost in their blog writing is like.
- Very grateful for the pace of my life and its abundance.
And to bring it back to Norm, I’ll add one more:
- 4:53 p.m. going to make a quick stop at the washroom before returning to the trail.