I'm feeling a bit nostalgic; don't mind me.

I've been thinking about a friend from high school lately-- Chris Guthrie. I miss him terribly.

11 years ago, he gave me this fantastic fuzzy blue journal for Christmas with an inscription inside. I still have the journal. Pages have been written in and torn out in those 11 years, but the inscription page is still there, fully intact. I plan on keeping this thing until the day I die. Yes, a nearly empty journal missing pages.

But it's mine, and it's part of him, too.


The inscription reads:

Someone once told me that journals represent different parts of your life. That each journal kept a piece of you and you a piece of it. Here's a fuzzy place to keep the part of your life that's just beginning. Much has happened, much is yet to come. And much is happening now. Take a stand, hold your head high, and take what life has to give you. Remember what I told you at Shakespeare? "You're stronger than you think." When you're feeling like life is jabbing you in the chest with a shovel or hot pokers or other such devices, come here and retreat. Sort stuff out. When you're kicking life's ass, come here and gloat. You're a special gal, Lieshie, remember that. And remember Shakespeare.

Chris
12-25-94