I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple years now, but I have never taken the time. . . I started writing in a journal in December of 1988. I received my first journal courtesy of my cousin Juanita and her husband.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this…I want them all written down for myself, but I don’t think you guys want to read all of them…especially in the beginning. Ha ha ha. What I decided to do, is to pick some of the entries and go chronologically . This started because I was teasing my daughter about being a tad bit ‘boy crazy’, and stating for a FACT that I wasn’t like that when I was her age. My sister just started laughing so I dragged out the journals and decided to take a look for myself.
Here they are in all of their glory:
..and here I am in all of mine (circa 1988) just to give you an idea what the gal that was writing in this book looked like. In my defense, this was the first and LAST time my mom permed my hair! (Plus it is TOTALLY crazy how much my eldest son looks like me.)
I will type the entries in italics and my thoughts now in bold to differentiate. So let’s begin:
August 16th, 1989
Sorry I haven’t written for so long! Yesterday was my sister’s Birthday, she is 13! Wow, she’s a teenager!! Nothing much has really happened, accept Ceder Point! and nothing happened there. (good to know that my grammar and spelling has improved a tad) Tammy K. used to hate New Kids on the Block, and we listened to my tape (cassette tape that is) all the way to Ceder Point and all the way back! (She asked me to make her a copy of the tape) 
OH, I got my ears pierced 4 1/2 weeks ago! Big Deal!
(the lunar eclipse was tonight, it is really awesome!)
I’m really excited for school to start, but I’m even more excited to start quizzing! I really miss Beth N., I haven’t seen her since June 4th!
I really like New Kids on the Block, they are really neat! I want to go to at least one of their concerts before I die! (I did make it to one, just in case you were wondering!)
Oh, I had this really weird dream: I begged Jeff S. to go outwith me! :p Yuck!! Oh well!
Love,
Sarea
P.S. I like Joe, Ian and Brian W. (Don’t get excited…this changes DAILY, ugh)
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August 19th, 1989
Hi, yesterday was my parents anniversary, and we went and saw a movie, then at 7:00 pm we had Caring Group at our house. (a small group with the church I believe) I was invited to Tara L.’s sleepover on Monday night (B/day). Tomorrow Danya, Daniel and I are going to the mall to get her a present!
Today we started my room in the basement, they have a wall up, my bed in, but no closet or place to put my clothes! (Harmony and I were tired of sharing a room and after enough begging, my parents finally agreed to get us separate places to sleep. She kept the bedroom and I got a room with plastic walls in the basement! I loved it!)
I should have it ready by the time school starts!
Love,
Sarea
P.S. I can’t wait for quizzing!
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November 4th, 1989
This is terrible, I should write more often. (the last entry was dated September 17th)
School has been good, and I am on the student government! It is a lot of fun, this year we are going to be int he Warren-Centerline parade! Isn’t that cool?
We are also going to visit and orphanage for Christmas! We are going to have a Homecoming Court too! I am real excited about that! (Keep in mind I was in a small private Christian school and there were like 14 kids in my class).
We had our first quiz last month and my team is tied for 1st place, Renee’s is in 3rd, I am in 15th and Beth is in ?
Oh, my basketball team is pretty good! We won first (1st) place in the championships, but we have only won 2 out of 14 games here at home!
Jon and Juanita are in Sweden for his job (this is the cousin who gave me this journal in case you forgot) and we are going to Minn. for Christmas! Curt and Joanie will be there, the only ones who aren’t coming are Donovan and Karen, Ron and Rhonda, Jon and Juanita, and Dan and Marsha!
I want to be a private investigator and a policewoman. I totally worship Dan L., he is my idol.
Love,
Sarea
P.S. Everyone is doing fine.
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December 3rd, 1989
That NKOTB concert was totally awesome, I never really liked them that much, (either I have a short term memory, or I tend to under/over exaggerate) but I sure like them a lot more now! Joe looked sooo totally gorgeous, I almost died! He is only 17, that is 2 years (2 1/8) (Not sure where I got that fraction from) older than me! He is my favorite, him and Jon! They did real good at their concert, I wish I could go again! Oh well!
I am doing pretty well with quizzing, but I better study a little bit harder if I want to do real good. I’ve sold one ticket to Joel M. for the thing on the 16th, Rich is going to be real proud of me!
I promised to call Kevin back before Sat., so I better call tomorrow! Well, I better go!
Love,
Sarea
P.S. I’ve almost had this book a whole year now!! (We are going to MN for Christmas again this year!)
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December 13th, 1989
Sorry the writing is sloppy, but my fingernails are wet! Today went fine except that in:
–Bible class- Carl used me as a bad example. (I’m pretty sure that teacher never liked me.)
– Gym class- Because of me everyone has to write a 2 page report. (I have NO idea what I could have done that would require that level of punishment for the entire class!)
– English- Tonya found out how much I hated her. (I have no idea why I would hate Tonya…I had written about her previously and said how much I liked her…my only guess is that she might have started liking a guy that I liked, and I have NO way of narrowing that down at all!) LOL
-Typing- Mr. Craft yelled at me 2x!
AND
-World History- Chris and I got in trouble.
The only classes left are lunch, Algebra and Physical Science. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better.
P.S. Tonight was really fun, we went Christmas caroling and first I hit Brian W. with a snowball, then he threw a snowball at me, then I hit him w/ another snowball, then he chased me for 1 1/2 blocks and threw snow at me. Then at church, Renee and I got a box and filled it with now and went to dump it on him, he got me in a headlock and Doug and him white washed me and body slammed me and now I have a big headache! (There is so much wrong with this run on sentence, not to mention the fact that I thought being beat up by boys was fun! I think I probably should have started some type of therapy at this point!)
Love,
Sarea
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I am going to leave you with that for now…the next few entries that I have chosen get more pathetic, so we will wait and get those to you next week!
Did you journal as a youth? If so, what did YOU write about, and what have you done if anything to preserve those journals?