Out With The Old, In With The New...Journal #77

 I caught the journaling bug years ago...well, decades ago, really. It's something I do, something that takes me only a few minutes a day. I used to write in a journal until all the pages were filled, but I decided to use one journal for every six months, two journals a year.

I've used that system for a long time.

Yesterday I finished up Journal #76. Today, I begin Journal #77. If I've written two journals a year, you can do the math to see just how long I've been writing in these things.

When I started, I could go to our local religious bookstore and pick up both the binders and filler pages. As fewer and fewer people kept journals, they discontinued the binders, but they still sold the filler pages. Now, they don't even do that. I had to call the company and order filler pages over the phone the last time I needed replacements. I remember having a conversation with the woman on the phone who said there will come a time when the company will no longer carry the fillers.

I don't exactly know what I'm going to do when I finally run out of pages. I think I'll print my own pages, cut them, and punch holes in them.

Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that for a little while.

Yes, it's a changing of the journal guard. Bring on 2024--the second half! Who knows what interesting things will be taking place.

Changing Of The Guard...

My two oldest sons now have jobs. The job the oldest had for the past several years has now been bestowed on his younger sibling. Today he began working. Sure, it's mowing lawns for his grandparents, but it's steady employment--steady, at least, until the earth turns on its axis and the grass stops growing and the snow begins to fall.

The reason the younger brother began mowing lawns today is because the older brother began working this week for an employer that takes taxes out of his paycheck. He worked a few days his first week and will be working everyday next week.

And so my children are working and contributing to the labor force. Our family is helping to lower the unemployment rate as best we can. I distinctly remember when I was out of high school and realized that I'd be working for the rest of my life--no longer could I look forward to summer when I would have nothing to do. It was kind of a depressing thought. Hopefully my sons won't have to experience those feelings for several years. 

Well done, sons!