Journaling, blogging, and writing frequent letters all bring a particular advantage. Yes, you create a record of big events to refresh your memory later, but that’s not what I have in mind. And yes, you create a narrative that can pull your own life together and get you through hard times, but that’s not what I mean either.
What I actually have in mind is this: the pressure to write regularly makes you pay more attention to what is happening in front of you, because you need to notice whether it’s worth writing about. When I have written letters regularly, newsworthy things struck me more often; when I wrote a humorous blog, funny things struck me more forcefully; when I posted family items often, photo opportunities occurred to me more readily.
This year, I think I need to laugh more. Funny things happen all the time–hey, I have six kids!–but I think it will be a good discipline to try and post, here, on the blog, one funny thing each day of the year.
Now this is January 1st, so I guess today’s funny thing could be my New Year’s resolutions. In fact, it’s kind of funny that I think I’ll actually post every day. But the official Funny Thing of Today comes from my youngest daughter, Tina.
Indirectly, it comes from me. Giving in to a curiosity about what my face looks like, I recently shaved off my beard. The youngest did not run away crying, which was the effect last time I tried the experiment, but after staring at me for a while my just-turned-three-year-old asked, meditatively, “Why do you have a man-face?” She has asked me that every time I have shaved since. I think of my man-face as something I have to put on before a tough meeting, but apparently I wear it around the home.
Today, running her fingers over my smooth face, Tina said somberly, “I hope you get more hair on your face.”
So, the vote is in from the three-year-old population. Any other preferences out there?
