My clan: the Family

As I have grown up and done some soul searching, I have lamented that I do not keep in touch with a lot of my family as much as I feel I should. I have made great attempts and remedying this! I have known for a bit of time about myself that writing someone has a different feel to it than simply writing for writing's sake, as in a piece of fiction. I have so much more heart right now in my letters to friends and family than I do in my 'writing.' So, with regards to the discussions I usually hold with different family members in person, over the phone, through email, I am now going to start writing some of them in journals-of-sorts and send it to them for them to write in as well. Mutual journals.

This thought was also spurned on a bit by my conversation with my grandfather. He has rigorously completed authentic historical research in trying to track down long-dead segments of our family tree. He has, for a few years now, seen different paths of names and families as far back as sources in different town records and diaries of the North East can reveal. When I was talking to him over the phone this past weekend, I commented that starting this blog would be a transfer of medium from my attempts at diaries. I usually stop writing in them. He immediately pleaded that I not give up the effort to keep a written, personal diary. He cited a diary's immensely personal tones being a good family gift, and said to even write down the most mundane of details that strike you. The mundane is an aspect of wonder to those people decades away from now!

The wisdom of what he had to say seems self evident. In all the manners I am trying to establish better ties with those around me and to learn their wisdoms, I say to people with my wide moon eyes [link: tenth segment, With that Moon Language] you are important. This life is important; can I learn from you? My whole idea for a non-fiction writing project of trying to assemble different wisdoms and life outlooks of normal everyday people is exactly therein encapsulated by a diary, but extended... their musings, their soul searching, their taking-a-stands. The respect and interconnectedness of it as a family tradition rings beautifully.