I often lament that due to the advent of emails, text messages and IMs, we are losing the art of letter writing and journalling. That we won’t be able to hold these things in our hands and read them again and again, letting our memories transport us back to those days, remembering the people we used to be.

However, I’m absolutely delighted to say I’ve just proved myself wrong. I was having a little internet browse this morning, and remembered an old blog I used to have when the family and I moved to Washington DC back in 2005. And though I can’t for the life of me remember the log-in details for it, I still remembered the name of the blog and the url, so I typed it in, and was instantly transported back down memory lane.

It was amazing. Right there, on the screen, I relived the stories from when my now 14 and 12-year-old were tiny, only 4 and 6 years old. In the blog I’d detailed funny conversations I’d had with them, like the one below:

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2006

Genetically Modified Meat

 

Sample of conversation with my eldest earlier today:

Me: ‘What’s your favourite dinner?’
E: ‘Roast Dinner’ (good girl – English tastes rule supreme)
Me: ‘What sort of roast dinner?’
E: ‘Lamb.’
Me: ‘That’s good’
E: ‘What sort of beef is lamb?’
Me: ‘Do you mean what sort of MEAT is lamb?’
E: ‘No. What sort of beef is lamb?’
Me: ‘Lamb isn’t beef, it’s a meat.’
E: ‘Uh?’
Me: ‘Where does lamb come from?’
E: ‘Lambs?’
Me: ‘Yes. And where does beef come from?’
E: ‘Cows?’
Me: ‘Yes. So what is lamb?’
E: ‘A kind of beef?’

Honestly, I was so delighted to see, written in down, an example of one of the many funny, crazy conversations I used to have with my kids when they were little. And if the internet–and blogging–hadn’t been invented, I probably never would have written it. So I’m taking back everything I said about the internet killing letter writing and memories. Instead, it’s not only allowed me to recover happy memories, but let me share it with my teenager, who couldn’t stop giggling.

Hope you all have a great weekend,