blog vs. journal

When I was a kid I always kept a diary. It was full of drama- kissing stories and which of my friends were fighting with each other. One time my mom even snuck a peek in 8th grade and I had to have a serious "talk" (of which I won't give any details).

When I was about 17 I decided to learn about the LDS church. One of the first things I was encouraged to do was "keep a journal" and I thought, that will be easy. I already do. But then it was revealed to me that in the LDS culture one keeps a journal so that "future generations" can read it.

I remember in about 1994, standing in my back yard on Union Street with my journals in hand thinking, "I'm pretty sure that I don't EVER want ANYONE reading these." With some hesitation, I threw them away in the alley trash.

I've tried to keep a journal since then, but it's never been the same. I've always felt guarded when writing. "Will my grand kids see this? Or worse, my kids?" So I mostly just write the facts and some cute antics the kids say. Or more recently, I don't write at all.

Then came blogging. It's different to write knowing that ANYONE will read it. So now I have the perfect solution. I will only write about the grand and glorious parts of my life and if my grand kids read it they will think I was awesome.

But sometimes I might slip. You may have to tolerate a boring post now and then. It might just be something that only I care about. But since this has become my method of documenting my mortal existence you'll just have to put up with it. And if I ever have anything REALLY BAD to say, I'll write it in my journal. (And then I'll probably throw it away.)