I spent the day reading a diary I had written in when I was a young a girl. It was a strange experience reading moments from my past, while simultaneously recalling the described events in my head. Quite a few of the entries recounted my most poignant childhood memories, and I wonder if the act of writing them down had cemented them in my mind so strongly that I recall them even today. There were of course many more entries that completely took me by surprise. My favourite one is from my twelve year old self. It captures both the freedom of growing up in a small Texas town and the randomness of a girl’s mind. How funny that I wrote a poem for a diary entry…I don’t at all remember writing it. The best description ever–wavy waves!

Diary Entry: June 24, 1990 – Texas

Today, me, T__, J__, V__, J__ and his little bro went in the field looking for hornytoads. We didn’t find any but we found a turned over car, leg bone, dead trees, scorpions, beetles, and a well. The well had water in it, but it was dirty. It was made of rocks and cement. The wooden top fell over already. It was very deep. We are going to go to CA this summer. I’m still not sure how. Gotta Go.

‘Poem’

The wind was blowin’ the grey clouds through the wavy waves as the fog drifted to the seashore. The leaping whales seemed to float weightlessly across the clouds. My eyes stunned as I saw the magical sun glide through the thick fog and warm up the whole earth. The wind then backed off and blew the clouds away over the sun. The sparkling rays of sunlight struck through the waters and down into the caves and holes where all the animals and fish live, waking them up and ordering them to start the day, while on the other side, the sun is just setting and going over the horizon. The purple sky darkens as the moon and stars magically appear. The shimmer of them glisten over the houses and shower dust of sleep to end the day and begin the night. All of this I see. All of this you see. Only, you don’t see it.

Mary (age 12)