Four Pale Blue Lines

I started out with an ordinary journal entry. After deciding it might make a good first blog entry, I spiced it up a bit with a few wild additions and exaggerations... just for the fun of it. I think you should know that the reason I decided to blog again is not accurately protrayed from this blog; I really do enjoy being slightly outrageous now and then! I hope it makes you smile as writing it caused me to smile. :)


Jan 23, 2010 Saturday morning 10:16 AM

Hi. I woke up this morning around 4:00 AM wide awake, without an alarm, once again used to waking up early (I start childcare at 5 AM), even though I got to bed late the night before on a count of the family having “Friday Night Movie Night."

I saundered out of bed and went over to the computer in the front room. I logged on, read some blogs, drooled over others’ writing talents (talents seemingly use solely for the purpose of enjoyment and pleasure and on topics that they chose to write about); then decided that I better get the editing done for the business magazine. I thought of my desires to have both time and talent, to write about... what ever it is I feel inclined to write about, and then have others read my writings and applaud for me by sending comments. (I really do thrive on compliments, recognition, and even attention. :)

Then I realized that these writers write in a way that I don’t. They write about things that are simply unimaginable to me (like the wind) and give such detail that their readers feel as if they were there. I told myself that they spend more time writing than I can spare to write. That they write more than I would care to write. And besides, I told myself, "I really do enjoy editing the magazine, every bit as much as I enjoy blogging, even if it isn’t what I would choose to write about (and even though it isn’t even “writing”) and I need to simply focus on work, and get it done!"

So I did.

For the next couple of hours.

I edited. I finished a major section that I have been working on all week, then decided to do something I never do once getting out of bed; hit the sack again.

…but first I did a bit reading from the comforts of my pillows as I lay in bed.

I was reading from a book I recently picked up and still have read very little from, The Red Leather Diary by Lily Kopel. The book is about the adventures which resulted from Lily discovering a dairy in New York City; taken from an old trunk which was on it's way to the dump; a diary of a woman now nearing a century old; a diary that the dear elderly woman had previously written on, beginning on her 14th birthday.

The diary was, of course, red and leather bound. It was a five year diary – with five years of entries written side by side on a single page. There were 365 pages, exactly one for each day of the year; the month and date were marked at the top of each page. And as Lily so eloquently expressed,

“Each fleeting day would be logged on just four pale blue lines.”

Now, you may know that I stopped blogging when I had to take up some temporary jobs to get through a couple of winter months. I simply didn't have the time to write. So you may be able to imagine the effect it had on me to discover that this now famous diary was the product of "just four pale blue lines" written on per day.

Wow! Feelings of hope and wonder flooded over me. New and exciting possibilities flashed through my mind. Maybe I could blog, "just four pale blue lines" per day!

My heart raced at the idea of a diary being cherished, preserved, and of such interest and value as to be savored, written about, published into a book, and read by perhaps thousands of readers all over the world, all because - "just four pale blue lines" were written in a single day, day after day for just 5 years!

I would have thought that one would surely need to write more details than four lines could possibly afford, for a diary to be so valued! (chorkel, smirk)

I was wrong.

And it delighted me to the core!

And so I laid there in my bed, holding this book and wondering; do I have what it takes to write a diary that others will love to read? Even without all the long descriptions that leave nothing to the imagination? Perhaps writing as little as "four pale blue lines" per day?

I fell asleep with the light on behind my head and the book in my hand as I struggled between asleep and awake, already dreaming of the possibilities.

A couple of hours later, I woke up and discovered that the answer to my own question was already there, dancing in my heart and mind and soul;

"I think I can."

And so, I shall again begin to write! I will write: My Very Own, Cyber-Space Diary ...of sorts.

The seriously ironic thing ... is this; the thing that inspired me to go ahead and try blogging again, despite my busy schedule, is the idea that just four lines each day could actually be sufficient get some memories down with. However, though I may not do all that fancy visual stuff that you other writers do (which bty I adore!)... I'M STILL LONG WINDED! Go Figure!

I don't know if I could stand to write just four lines per day! But, I suppose I am still destined to write.

And so I shall.

And so I do. :)

PS. For the fun of it, I might (is it possible?) blog for just one week - "just four pale blue lines" per day! After which, I will write however much I feel like writing, whenever I feel like writing! (Or when ever I can!) Until I write again... :)