Diary Days

A few days ago while cleaning my parents room, I found my Mom's diary from her senior year in highschool and some of her college days. It did not contain anything scandalous or reveal a rebellious young woman or party girl. No, it simply showed how good my Mom was through and through. Her writing showed how innocent, pure, simple, kind, fun-loving, honest, and faithful she was. She wrote about how she played ping-pong with her brother Mark, how she snagged her nylons on the desk in zoology class (zoology class??) and she couldn't stop laughing and her teacher starred a hole through her, how she needed to study so hard for class, how the farm was doing, and the list goes on.



And she wrote about how much she loved Carmen. People often talk about true love, well let me tell you, my parents had the real deal. Here is an entry from January 7th, 1964.

This entry says, "Things started happening today.I can't remember if the day started perfect, but it ended that way. Carmen asked me to go to the show with him next Sunday. I was so excited and I said that I would. Just think, our first date! After band I couldn't do a thing. I didn't tell a soul....I'm going to dream about everything nice tonight. I won't even be able to sleep. Guide me dear God."

And there are other entries about how Carmen came up to her in the hall and she said 'Hello Prince Charming' and then he blushed, and she blushed. Or about how Carmen carried her clarenet for her and he was such a gentleman. She wrote about handsome Carmen looked in his long coat and top-hat (!) and how she loved him so.

This is classic Mom and she loved my Dad so much from the beginning. She talked about how she thought another guy liked her, but she didn't think he was her type, she thought he was a bit 'fresh' and she didn't like that! She liked Carmen best.

And then she ends each diary entry with talking to Jesus and telling him she loves him. She says she is going to try to pray the whole rosary tonight or she asks for God's guidance in being a good woman, she prays it will work out with Carmen but she loves Jesus even more.

Life is just different now. People don't use diaries as much if anymore at all. People don't usually marry their highschool sweethearts. I could title this entry 'True Love', 'Time capsule', 'The Good Old Days' or any other number of titles alluding to life on a farm during the sixties without internet, t.v., and all the other entertainment. Just last month while I was in labor Mom was telling me they didn't even have any books on the farm to read! No novels, literature, hobby books, nothing like that. Her folks only had 5 books that were all about farming. So she knew those books inside and out!

I am proud to have a mother who lived with such integrity. She loved her life, her family and friends. She loved her husband, kids and grandkids and served them with all her heart.