a short hello with my morning coffee
I haven't written here in a while, and I have a few topics I'm excited to talk about when I have time. My journaling habit has still included daily logs, but the way it has included them has changed a bit. I've been sort of adding them in time stamps in the margins as I write, rather than simply listing off what I did at each time of the day. This has worked better for me, I think, as I tend to write in fairly lengthy bursts. It never seems enough for me to just write "7:00 am - woke up. made coffee". There are still some entries that are shorter, but almost all of them have at least a few sentences where I reflected a little bit about how I was feeling. It has been really nice to look back on, even though I haven't been writing consistently, every day.
I'm almost finished with this journal too. It's one of my favorites I've written in, a Rollbahn large spiral bound notebook with cream colored graph paper. The outside is cream colored too, though they do come in many different colors. I've really enjoyed using this journal. The paper takes fountain pen ink very well, and is smooth to write on (something I always look for, as the extra fine nib on my Kaweco Brass Sport can easily get caught on rough paper). It also has some really nice mylar sleeves in the back to store things in, which I love so much more than the typical Moleskine folder. It tends to keep things a little safer, and the things I've put in them – 2 post cards from Philly Typewriter, a business card from the owner of Philly Typewriter, with a Philly Typewriter sticker (unstuck), notes I took on the Code of Conservation, that I was reading in hopes of better preparing myself for a job I've had my eye on, and a note from my mom – have all been retained their immaculate condition.
Over the weekend, I traveled up to Massachusetts for my mom's birthday, and Easter. Despite driving amongst all of my family, spread between Newburyport, Salem, and Somerville, and sticking to a fairly tight schedule of visits, it all felt very relaxed and I got to spend a decent amount of time with all 7 of my siblings, and both sets of parents. I also, unexpectedly, got to see some other extended family and eat some Italian-Polish food on Easter morning.
I think making the drive for a slightly extended weekend reminded me that I'm not that far away from them, and closed the gap a little. I'm only right down I-95, after all. I think I'll drive up more often. It eases the feelings of homesickness, knowing exactly how long it will take to drive home, rather than just having a rough estimate of how long.