The most important journal entry I wrote as a little girl

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“Dear Jounole
today I wokee up”

The last time I visited my childhood home, I found a stack of my old journals collecting dust, sitting in my bookcase. I grabbed them, sat on the bed, and began flipping through the pages.

I found the funniest drawings that brought me to tears

I found the silliest stories about school and how much I loved gym class

I found priceless love letters that were never sent to crushes

I found poems about trees, dogs, and birds

However, I then discovered an entry that paused time for me.
After my hysterical laughs quieted down, I found myself unable to look away from the page.

My heart cracked wide open as I examined my little katie handwriting, my huge attempt at spelling, and my profound one-liner statement:

“Dear Jounole
today I wokee up”

I imagine it just like this: I’m curled up in a ball with the itchy carpet pressing into my little knees, elbows, and shins as I flip open to the second page of my new spiral jounole that has a golden retreiver puppy on the front, grab my pen (always had to be black ink or else I wouldn’t dare touch it), tuck my hair behind my little ears, and I ask myself what magic wisdom bomb I want to share to myself and my imaginary world.

Yes, there’s a possibility that I just decided not to finish the entry that I started. Maybe I got distracted by a bug and left my spiral jounole behind.

But there’s also a possibility that that entry was completely finished.

So maybe you’re wondering why I view this as “the most important journal entry I wrote as a little girl”?
What wisdom did little katie want me to take away from her statement?

Waking up alive is an opportunity and gift, every single day.

Sometimes, there are seasons of life where “waking up” requires every ounce of energy we have and we have to acknowledge that as a win on those days.

Life can be commically funny as well as extremely dense and difficult.
I feel like my one-liner sums that truth up pretty nicely.

We are all just trying our best to making it through to the next day. We should all remember that when we are moving about the world.

We have to laugh at how silly this all is sometimes. Reduce the seriousness and seek the humor.

We all came from a “little” version of our current selves. Lets give compassion to those innerchildren and remember our sacred innocence in how we all percieved the world.

So every morning, I wake up to see my one-liner jounole entry sitting framed up on my bookshelf, reminding me to stay awake to the gifts of having another morning, alive. I remember that I have the opportunity to make something of my day, of my work, how I contribute to my community, and how I can bring little katie along with me.

with love,
katie + and little katie