An amazing article by Steve Lange, from Rochester Magazine:

When my Nana died, a dozen years ago this month, she left me—or I was given—two items as mementos.

Her notebook entries cover 73 years, from “June 10, 1933: Married” through Jan. 25, 2006, just a few months before she died. I can’t read the last one. She kept making notes even after her handwriting could no longer keep up with her.

In between, she documented roughly 800 events—one-line reminders of a dozen or so memorable moments per year.

No embellishment. No emotion. Every line, if you were to look at it as a handwriting exercise, carries the same weight. Which seems impossible for the woman who regularly laughed until tears filled the inside of her glasses. Who cried at TV shows if animals faced any sort of danger.

Line two marks the birth of my father “March 22, 1935: Ken born.”

Line three, the birth of her only daughter. “May 27, 1937: Judy born.”

Line four: “Dec. 26, 1938: Judy died.”

And so it goes through the next eight decades.

Please read the rest, it’s a wonderful story: Nana’s Notebook | Rochester Magazine | postbulletin.com