Journaling

 So this is a 14 day challenge for any or all of my followers to do. If you do decide to take the journey I hope you will post a few of your letters and or thoughts in the comment area. Some of you may begin to read into this post and figure out what it is really about and say---" I am not doing that or talking about that it's morbid." Ok so let's just get to the meat of the discussion... I want to have every mother, grandparent and or father to sit down for the next 14 days and follow my leads for topics and create a letter to your child or grandparent, That's easy what is the catch???? The catch is they are for them to read upon your death... I find letter to be simple and honest expressions of a persons values and a reflection about your life. It is a window for your child or grandchild to see what you were like or how you thought about things, ideas and them.  It can be filled with your hopes for them for the future- the gift of reading some one we loves thoughts is a treasure. I have a few cards my dad wrote me over my life, but no letters and boy do I wish I did.
  Where did the idea come from ???? Well it may have started with my dad's sudden death in 2003 or it may have started with my pregnancy when I was purchased the book Letters for Tomorrow A journal for Expectant Moms and Dads ( my side bar- on the blog has copies of all the books I refer to in this blog. 
  Next the idea became to swarm in my head about Aiden having Neurofibromatosis and what if he lived and I died and he had to be motherless with a special needs situation. I began writing him letters to tell him how special I thought he was even with this illness.  Then it was the book called A journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy about a tragic story of love and war. A father writes letters to his unborn son and he dies for our country. "The book is a living , breathing legacy." says author of The color of water by James McBride.
 Finally, my thoughts came today in class when a student of mine's mom was invited to speak about her adoption of him from China. She read a book about orphanages in China. She mentioned about people in China being allowed to have only one child and often if they had more they were sent to jail- I thought about how difficult and painful this would be and how many children are given up for these reasons and for health reasons. This child in my room needed surgery and the American parents believe he may have been placed in the orphanage as the Birth parents may have known they would not be able to afford or get this type of medicine or surgery in China. I began thinking of those birth mothers and if they had or wanted to write letters to their children- I found a book called Letters from China by Bonnie Cuzzolino
  So The challenge if you choose to accept it is simple starting Saturday you will begin a letter based on part or all of a topic I provide to your child, in case you died suddenly. You will hand write them if possible and keep them all bond at the end with a ribbion or string or in a specially decorated box.
  Start brain storming about your values and reflections you would like to share.
 " Why cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak; they have in them all the force which expresses the transports of the heart; they have all the fire of our passions. Letter from Heloise to Abelard
 A word about Procrastination:
  If you have the tendency to put things off until the last possible moment and don't understand why you do this, there are many reasons but try to avoid procrastination. You will be able to begin a process of honest self-disclosure, which is a valuable form of communication.Children even children who have grown into adults like to see you are human and have had problems and are still able to openly communicate about them.
  See you Saturday with a subject nice paper or a nice bound book and a pen.