the diary

via Snippet & Ink

This past weekend, during a visit back home, my mom showed me something I didn't know even existed: my grandmother's diary.

The diary begins right at this time of year, late winter, early spring. She is in her early twenties (younger than 23). At this time, she is still single (an “old maid” she calls herself), happy for, but envious of, her older sister Anna (“Annie”) and Anne's impending wedding; she is always palling around with her best friend, Julia (who always has a date with a new boy.) And the thing she wants most is to just be in love.

She talks about showing a Mrs. Clair Annie's hope chest, and her "hopeless chest." She flirts at the church bazaar with John B. She frets about whether or not Karl (not my grandfather) likes her, frets about whether or not Karl is married, gets all-atwitter the day Karl buys a brand new, green “family” car.

She goes dancing at least once a week, attends basketball games, joins her friends skating, and has orchestra practice (my mother wasn't sure what instrument she played.)

But the very best parts are just the everyday-life things. “The bees came out today and many of them froze. Still, so nice to see them. They work so hard. Makes you wonder about life.” (My great grandfather was a beekeeper.) And “Rode the milk truck to Mrs. Clair’s today and listened to the radio.” She was frequently checking out books from the library and would then rate them when she was done: “Good.” Or “Fair.” And going to movies "Saw a movie with Clara Bow in it today." And theatre: “Saw Dracula. Terrible, horrible! Wish I’d never seen it!”

She even has her New Year’s resolutions written on the inside front cover:
1. To get more physical culture.
2. To stop chewing gum.
3. To stop eating candy.
4. To eat better in general.
5. To be nice as pie to everyone.

My grandmother's name was Adeline. I also found out this past weekend that her dream was to be a writer or an English teacher. Instead--and this I knew--she owned a general store with my grandfather, and worked as the Post Mistress in town. (as a teenager, I used to wear her old post office cardigans, blue or red with round wooden buttons.)

I'm crap at keeping journals. And I'm crap at keeping blogs. But I am a hopeful novelist. And having the opportunity to start reading this diary over the weekend has inspired me. So I thought I'd start this little blog up, and dedicate it my grandmother, Adeline. The writer. xo