I have been keeping a journal for most of my life. It started with small diaries that locked with the simple key (that could be substituted with a fingernail). When I was young they would 
capture what time I woke, what I ate, the score of the Cubs game, and a sentence or two about my day. An entire week of my life could fit on a 2 page spread. I liked the repetitive nature of their entries and the simplicity of my days.
By middle and high school I graduated to full-page diary entries that often captured my scores on tests or other grades, how volleyball, basketball, or softball practice went that day, and who I sat by at lunch. Riveting reading, no doubt.
There are gaps in journaling over the years when I couldn’t (or didn’t) find the time to document those moments of my life. They marched on regardless. On the verge of motherhood, I knew I wanted to capture life and contain it 
somewhere so that I wouldn’t forget. I began incorporating photos, ticket stubs, and other mementoes with my entries. Now they are half images, half words on most days.
Each time I fill up a journal it feels like closing a book on a part of my life. I flip back through the 7 or 8 months that are captured within and relive moments, feelings, tastes, and sounds. There is something sacred in finishing a book and knowing that it represents the memories of the past and then opening a blank book and recognizing that it holds the promise of a future.
So today I sit here between past and future with a blank book in one hand and a pen in the other. I am closing the book on a part of my life and beginning another. My life is more than a trilogy, quadrilogy, or heptalogy…
I guess I don’t know what you call 20 or more books. 
Perhaps, A Series of Fortunate Events?
litcoachlady 
Photos in your journal!? What a great idea.
I wrote about this same topic yesterday. It’s funny how emotionally tied to our notebooks we are.
What a great idea! I wish I had gotten into the routine of writing in a journal. I would love to go back and relieve my younger days! My mother-in-law has kept a book for each of my kids for each of the years they aren’t in school. I have 4 journals for Carson and will end up having 5 for Kenzie. I can’t stay home with them which makes me sad but what an amazing gift to have books for the first 4-5 years of their life. I love going back and looking at them. 🙂
I often go back to read my journals/diary. It is entertaining to read how I responded to events.
What a beautiful testament to the power of writing in your life! I’ve also recently switched to adding more non-text into my journals, and I’m amazed at how much more completely it tells the story of my days (and how much more likely I am to write). Thank you for sharing!
I used to keep journals and diaries as well! I stopped for a while after high school and tried to get back in to it here and there throughout the past 3 years or so, but I failed. This however, SOL, has given me so much joy and I truly love writing again. I can’t wait to continue- thank you for inspiring me to continue to write down my thoughts and feelings!
I am trying so hard to keep a writer’s notebook, not quite a journal. I am not that faithful…yet, but I am trying.
I need to get back to keeping a journal…it can be such a discipline to get into the habit but so powerful and life-giving when the habit is established! Thanks for sharing!
What treasures!