how I got into writing

Why do I feel it necessary to document things?  Here I must give credit to my dear departed Uncle Reg.  During the war years my uncle and his wife, Aunt Netta, took me on holidays (vacations to Americans) to the English coast.  My father had died when I was about 6 years old and my uncle and his wife took over many duties to amuse and educate me.  They put off having children themselves because of the uncertainty in war years, so I was their substitute child.  (they later had three sons--my cousins and their extended family is my family--they must read this blog!)

My uncle explained that we must document each day's activities so we would have a record to look back on later.  I still remember the little notebooks with his elegant handwriting, sad I didn't retain any.  So this began my documenting holidays and trips.  These documents became much more interesting as I traveled around the world.   I found one recently on the trip my children and I took over Europe when they were 13 and 15 years old.  Seeing the written word brought back so many memories.  Unfortunately our brains become full of current stuff and we can't remember everything, just highlights like son pouring water into the street from a balcony in Florence and daughter walking off in huff on her own in Switzerland and I didn't care, it was Switzerland, she was safe. But to read words that were written years ago brings everything back.  So this is why I encourage others who witnessed Judy's performance to put their memories down on page. 

Currently I have discovered some more detailed information about the life of Virginia, Judy's sister and that is being added..back to the book..