Happy 4th of July Weekend! This is the first Friday of the month which means it is time for Random Journal Day which is happening all weekend through Monday! Maybe we should re-name it Random Journal Weekend. Today, I am very happy to have a friend who is from my own Home State, although currently residing in Texas. Our own RJD Co-Hostess Susie (Recovering Church Lady) is also in The Lone Star State, so technically they are neighbors. Heck, here in the USA I think we are ALL neighbors! So, let’s start this RJD weekend off by welcoming our Featured Journal Keeper Christine Miranda. Christine and I have become friends through our mutual love for planners and journals…and planning and journaling. She helps my with a page I have for my Planner Bootcampers and is one of a team of girls I call my Plannerteers! I am so grateful to have her here today. Christine doesn’t have a blog (at the moment BUT is working on it) so be sure and join in with her here this weekend with your comments and encouragement.
If you all would like I can keep that link open until Tuesday if anyone is super busy! I think I will go ahead and just do it. So, enjoy your weekend. Share your journals, journal love and remember you don’t have to share a GIANT piece of your journal. A snippet, a paragraph, an image. Just DO IT…as you wish.
Now, get ready for some wonderful words- here’s our sweet journal girl of the month…
I’ve been writing ever since.
A journal is anything you want it to be. A place to jot down ideas, a place to reflect, a place to create a new world and sometimes, a place to escape when life has gone all wonky. Each year I would write a year end journal, highlighting the big moments of that year. I wrote about how I met my best friend and husband and the feeling that I just KNEW that he was the ONE. I also included our first date when I cooked Chilies Relleno, or lets just say I attempted to cook it. I used the wrong chili and didn’t remove the skin from the chili -it was just awful. But what I realized was that I missed the little moments that make each day special and a Blessing from God.
I look back on what I wrote when I was a young adult and sometimes shake my head at what I thought was important at that time. I have grown so much once I met the Lord and He has guided me in so many ways. I use my journals most when I can empty my head and get my mind free of distractions to be able to Hear His word.
I stopped journaling for close to six years when my mom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. I discovered my writing became a pouring out of painful emotions because I could not fix her with a Harry Potter “whish” of my wand, “Reparo Parkinson’s”. My journaling was a place to vent and let out my frustrations. While that might be a good thing to do, when I read it later, I got depressed, so I quickly stopped that. Looking back at that time, as difficult as it was for her and I, some truly great moments were embedded into my soul. One thing I did write,while she was living with us, was about the time I went to cut her toenails. I came in wearing a welders mask and gardening shears. That was a great moment!
These days, I have a few journals I use daily. One is my inspiration journal, which is kind of like a Pinterest board. I have a list of items needed to make a particular project, so when I am out and about, I can pick up what I need. Another is the journal I use before I sleep. I empty my head and list out the things that stood out to me that day, like seeing the birds take a bath in the fountain, or r a grandmother’s smile and joy when her grandchild gave her a hug. Another journal I have is for my animals. I have two cats, three dogs and my home is like a Disney cartoon without the soundtrack.
So, when you see a blank piece of paper, grab it! Go to a place where you feel most at calm, take that pen or pencil out and let your words flow.
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Let’s LINK Up! Here is your link to join in by sharing with us a peek into your journal!
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
14 responses to “Random Journal Day #52 with Featured Journal Keeper Christine Miranda”
This was so sweet to read 🙂 Nice to met you Christine
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Thank you! Appreciate it. Happy 4th!
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Thank you Christine for sharing :). I was journaled a lot until my mom fought her battle with breast cancer. I was traveling every week for quite some time and home on the weekends to help her out when she was on hospice. Definitely a roller coaster of emotions. I have always love to write, journal, and have a place of my very own to write whatever I wanted to. Thank you for sharing with us some of your memories. Made me think and reminisce about some things I have actually forgotten. 💜
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Bless you Kate. I am glad you were there for her as she knew what you did and continues to watch over you from the other side. Thank you commenting. Hugs.
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Thank you for sharing your journaling journey with us, Christine! Look forward to reading more when you do get a blog going! Be sure to keep us updated on that…
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Will do Barbara! I’ve been hemming and hawing for months now on whether I should do it. Praying daily.
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Nice to meet you Christine. How did you wind up in Texas?
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Moved here as a child with my family of five. Miss the changing of the seasons but definitely don’t miss the snow. 🙂
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[…] 4th of July Weekend, friends. The first Friday of each month is Random Journal Day Weekend. This month the link is open through Tuesday night at 11:00 PM since many will be busy with […]
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Hi Susie….any friend of Dawn’s! I’m so grateful for my journaling friend, Kel, who intro’d me to Dawn. And I love the community journaling table she has set. I think your creative uses of the journal are wonderful. I generally use just one, but there have been times that it’s been helpful to keep a specific journal…maybe for projects, or once a joy journal, to counteract grumbling. I could really resonate with you at how you stopped journaling during your mother’s illness….I’m so sorry for her suffering. I did journal a lot during my father’s horrendous suffering, but after he died, I froze over. My journalng became hit and miss. I think I thought I would drown in grief on the blank page. So poetry became a godsend to me…a form of “economic journaling,” which allowed me to pierce the darkness of soul with more precision and empty my angst into a small container. Here is a poem that I wrote during that time. I’ll share it here, since I don’t blog. Thank you so much for your inspiration…and always thank you, dear Dawn!
Love
Lynn
The Box
For Daddy
by Lynn D. Morrissey
Your favorite plaid shirt—well-worn, softened squares of red and blue—
was torn clean through at mid-sleeve,
and frayed—terribly frayed—where your angular elbows, roughened,
yet softened with time, thrust through.
Your dark denim overalls, homey, capacious,
deliciously splattered with rays of white paint,
like a midnight sky spattered with sprays of bright stars,
were your second skin.
Your big, black shoes (size thirteen)—you called them boats!—
anchored your once-six-foot frame to earth,
as you lumbered cumbersomely along,
your cold-steel cane flanking you, too.
You were no fashion plate.
But you had a beautiful box:
polished mahogany, smooth as silk,
filled with milk-white clouds and satin puffs,
stuffed like an elegant jewel case and adorned
with bright-brass Pieta replicas and shining panels of Lord’s-Supper reliefs.
I ran my hand along its handles, along its glistening, beveled edges,
reverently reveling in its richness,
gripping its resplendence.
And now, in grief,
in throat-stripping weeping,
we must grip ourselves.
We place our priceless treasure in the box,
carefully, oh so carefully.
We fluff the clouds, smooth the satin folds,
arrange your body like one arranges fragile flowers,
then close the lid.
And we lock it tight against the night.
We lock it hard for holding,
secure for safe, safe keeping.
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Thank you Lynn for commenting and sharing your beautiful poem. Times like what we have shared are difficult to a degree no one should have to experience. The pain does fade and is replaced by happy memories. Hold on to those moments. You will meet up again. God Bless.
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I love that your mom gave you a journal of your own to write your stories down. What a gift! All the potential in a blank piece of paper, so true!
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I adore a blank piece of paper! So many possibilities and sometimes I still get befuddled by it. Lol. Thank you Kelrohlf
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[…] since it’s Random Journal Day/Weekend, I thought I’d share some insights I have been recording in my journal, as a I read the book […]
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