Kentucky versus Chicago

If I were like the woman in the diary I'm reading, I'd say something like, "Sunny day, but cold" at the top of the page. And then down below: "I feel cautiously optimistic." But I wouldn't say why.

She must have written in the evenings, when the events of the day would be known, and the weather too. She never explains the causes, the events behind her feelings. Just, "So and so came over. We washed. We ironed." Every Monday and Tuesday they wash and iron. I, on the other hand, go into great detail about everything I think should be known in order for the feelings I want to vent to be justified. So things like chores and addresses and weather don't come into it much.

Is that it, justification versus documentation? No. We each have a reason for keeping a journal. Mine isn't exactly justification, and hers isn't just documentation. Or maybe we all have the same reason: the need to tell our ideal secret friend. And the differences correspond to our idea of the ideal secret friend. Kentucky diary woman's secret friend would care about weather and which chores got done. My secret friend wants to hold all my stupid thoughts and silly notions and petty complaints so that I don't impose them on anyone else. Or something.