A little bit of this; a little bit of that

Ah, the power of words. They have such an immense strength. It's one of the few things that has the power to change a life. Wow!

Where has my recent awe come from? Good question. I have obviously recently been hit by the re-realization of how amazing words are. And how much I love them. Last night words brought up the past to my great amusement.

I began journaling in 7th grade. See, I wanted nothing more to be selected for the Journalism class when I hit junior high. My 6th grade teacher did not recommend me for the honor, so there was no way I could possibly get in. I decided to do two things about my frustration. 1) I would start a journal because it would last longer than any newspaper (I even wrote that in my first entry--that was a direct quote from my 12 year old self). 2) Every time the newspaper would come out, I would hunt for all the editorial mistakes to prove to myself I COULD be on the staff, and possibly do a better job of it than those who were on the staff. These two things combined may or may not have contributed to the fact that in 8th grade, I was selected for the Journalism class. Woo-hoo for moi!

So last night I was trying to remember something from my 16 year old self. I looked up my journals from the past years. Let me tell you, I was so very amused. My 8th grade crushes were hilarious. I am embarrassed to admit that I would write the word "love" with a heart instead of an o anytime I wrote about my crushes. I commented on the social shallowness of people when I was in college (asking about how a person is doing in passing does not truly require caring). The arguments I would have with my folks as an 8th grader ("My mom is an alien hypocrite!!!!!" I have no idea where that one came from.).

I browsed through them for about an hour. It was so very entertaining! Things that were brought up within the journals ranged from a conversation over lunch in France which dealt with chest hair (Alysha always made the topics of discussion more interesting) to my Scotish pen pal from elementary school named Fiona to Katie's Drooling Buddies (our dog used to drool quite a bit on my friends Joey, Troy, Amanda, Rita, and Nicole). I was completely entertained. I must admit that I may never have the most fascinating life, but it's nice to know that I can look back and giggle.

The title of this post comes from the song "Anatevka" from Fiddler on the Roof.