Blank Slate

I guess I could say I've always kept a kind of blog, except back then it would have been called a diary, and later on a journal. In seventh grade, everybody was required to have a notebook for social studies, and it had to be one of those black and white notebooks, the only color at the time, though now they come in a variety of colors and designs. We wrote, in pencil, the facts the teacher wrote on the blackboard, lots and lots of words. We were to keep those notebooks, as a study guide, I guess, though they were subject to be called in if the teacher (Mrs. Foster) had reason to suspect lack of due diligence on the part of the note-taker. Me being a strict follower of rules, I had no cause for concern on that front, but I did violate the integrity of the notebook's purpose by keeping my own little journal in the margins, writing sideways so as not to intrude on the actual note taking. It was the year my grandmother took sick and died, and I secretly kept an account as the events unfolded. I can remember my first post: "Oct.8, Nanny fell." After she died, about a month later, I used my eraser to clear the margins of all my scribbled notes. We didn't have delete buttons then.