Day 8...Whole Lotta Love Perfect Valentine Gift

 _Wow, Two post in one day.  But at least I am back on track.  Again thank you Cindi for this fun idea.  I have so enjoyed this thus far and have loved reading all your "whole lotta loves".  Thanks to all who have stopped by and commented on my post also.

 

 

Tonight's post is going to be a little different.  Really it didn't start out as a whole lotta love, but a sweet thoughtful gift from Holly.  Several years ago she gave me this Journal Jar as a part of my Christmas gift. She knows me well and knew as a teenager I kept a diary {still have them} and once I got married I have kept a journal/prayer journal all these years.  She knew I would do as I should with this jar.

 

 

It was full to the brim with little strips of paper , each one with a question typed on it.

 

 

There was a tag on the side tied with raffia which says:

 

Preserve your memories

Seal them up well

What you forget, you can never retell.

But a journal that's kept fresh on the shelf,

Will help someone through rough times

Maybe even yourself.

 

 

 

She also included a leather bound journal for me to write the answers to the questions inside.

 

 

I began immediately answering a few questions nightly,  but all to soon tired of it and only did them occasionally. However with each question, memories would just rush back to the time and place in reference to the question.  I soon could not wait to see what the next question was and what part of my life I would be writing about. I decided in January to get busy and to finish this journal

 

 

Some question were light and funny, but some were and are deep.  The few I have left in the jar have been read and re read and they are the hardest ones I have left to answer.  I ask her one day where the questions came from.  She said she made up some and some she found on the Internet.

 

Inside this journal, is my life.  There are revelations that I have never made to anyone, but will be left for Holly to read  and passed on down to Darbee Rae.  It is me... who I am , how I think, my dreams that have come true, my disappointments, my childhood, my religious beliefs, my ancestors, happy times along with sad times. My innermost feelings about deaths, births, marriage, political views, you name it, it is in the pages of thisJournal. I have grown to love this book, because it is what makes me who I am and what makes me tick.  Little did I know when I unwrapped the gift, that it would become such a big part of my life.  One that will live on sitting on a shelf or tucked away in a drawer in my darling daughter's home and one day in the home of my granddaughter. 

 

I am striving to have this jar finished and re gift it to Holly on Valentine's Day.  Yes, Holly, now you know, I am almost done with all the questions.

 

If you are so blessed to have your Mother still with you, this would be the most perfect gift to her for Valentine's Day.  I wish I had one that my Mother had done for me.  There are lots of times I find myself wishing I had ask a question about her life as a young girl, a young married lady and as a Mother.  Those answers we buried with her and I have no way of knowing what she could have told me. . But Holly will...Some answers will shock her, some will make her cry, { I know my girl} and some will make her laugh and bring a smile to her face. 

 

Holly, thank you for the gift, made and given with love.  I am re gifting it to you with all the love my heart can share.  Knowing I will never be forgotten.

 

Good night everyone.  Until tomorrow.