An ode to a notebook

I have already spent enough time praising my Filofax but its companion has been entirely neglected. This has to be changed, after all the two go everywhere together!

I used to carry little notebooks, small enough to fit into any pocket, which I would fill with shopping lists, to do lists and anything important that I wasn't allowed to forget. Lovingly nicknamed "My Brain", it worked great, in many ways but it also had some serious shortcomings. Keeping dates that way was a nightmare. I'd always forget where (and if) I had noted something down. Once the notebooks were full, I never knew what to do with them but I mainly just them them away. After all, who is interested in a to-do-list from three weeks ago? Not me, that's for sure. Big dreams, plans and goals went into my diary at home, provided I still remembered by the time I reached it and could still be bothered to write it down. Long story short, the small notebooks were great for the hard-to-remember everyday stuff but terrible for big ideas, important developments, deep thoughts and even plain simple remembering a date. Being a freak who loves to write things down, that wasn't a great solution at all.

Here enters the Filofax. It took over the to-do lists and made planning much easier but there was still no space for dreams and thoughts and emotions. The note pages in there just didn't cut it for me, maybe because I am left handed and writing in there can be awkward. Then I met a friend who was carrying a lovely simple black sturdy notebook, which he pulled out during one of our conversations last summer.It was perfect! I don't know why I didn't come up with that idea myself! The next day, I got myself one.

Now, five months later, I have just turned the last page on my first one. Its full of dreams and smiles, hopes and disappointment, lists, poems, notes, thoughts, pep talks, anger, recipes, information and plans. I'm definitely keeping that one, for myself and just in case anybody ever wants to write a bibliography about be. You never know.