I keep our calendars from year to year.  I have an entire bin of old calendars from the last 13 years.  I even have a couple that I kept from high school.  Back then, I would keep track of basketball games, dances, when a certain boy asked me out, or when we broke up.   The calendars now are filled with appointments, games, family get togethers, birthdays, and anniversaries.  

I do it for more of a practical application down the road than for the mere obvious sentimental reasons.  I think that it will be great to look back at them someday and have something to trigger my memories of all that we did together as a family…because quite honestly, I am afraid of forgetting most of it.  

It seems that I cannot remember from day to day where we have been, what we have done, or even what my name is anymore!  And I know these memories are too precious to forget.  So I chronicle our lives on the little squares of our calendar.  I write down what we did for someone’s birthday or when we packed a picnic and headed to the zoo.  I will write down all the milestones my daughter reached in her first year of life so when she looks back at her baby book and sees that I never made it past page 2….that I did indeed keep a record of her special moments, just not in her baby book.  I will write down how we spent this Memorial Day weekend…we planted a garden, had a cookout with friends, roasted marshmallows by the campfire, etc.  That way, when my husband says to me next year at this time, “Do you remember what we did last year for Memorial Day” (as he always finds it necessary to quiz me on previous holiday festivities, and I inevitably fail miserably)…I will be able to say, “No, I have no idea what I ate for lunch yesterday Corey, so asking me what we did a year ago is pretty pointless, don’t you think?  Why don’t you just tell me what we did because you and I both know that you know and I don’t remember?”

 However, I will be able to drum up the old calendars…and subsequent memories…. someday….someday when I am frail, old, and “officially” senile….and reminisce over days and years past.  

It seems as though I spend every day running ragged with my life and someday I will look back on this time and wonder how I managed it all…and how to get it back because I know I will miss it terribly!

I know my calendars will come in handy on those days!