(A)

When I was a freshman in high school, I won second

prize in our local newspaper¡¯s essay contest on the theme

of ¡®future career.¡¯ I wrote about wanting to become a

journalist. We had to collect our prizes at the local variety

store and, while waiting in line, a little notebook in the

stationery department caught my eye. (a) It was a black

and red hardcover book with the word ¡®Record¡¯ neatly

engraved in gold on the cover. I reasoned that since I

was going to be a journalist, I¡¯d need a very special

notebook in which to write. So I bought (b) it.

(B)

Then during a serious illness when I was thirty-five, I

found the little notebook I had purchased twenty years

earlier. From my sick bed I noticed (c) it on a nearby

shelf. It was still blank but something told me to write

my deepest feelings and thoughts, my pain and fear, my

wishes and dreams, the words of my inner world. This

was my first ¡®official¡¯ journal. And the process of

journal-keeping through writing and drawing helped heal

me from a mysterious illness which had defied the

doctors and their medicines.

(C)

My life changed so much after that. I began listening

to my own feelings and inner wisdom. The insights I

gained through journal-keeping led me into a new career

as an art therapist and teacher of diary writing and drawing.

More importantly, I learned to play and enjoy life again.

For instance, several years after recovering from my

illness, I started skateboarding for the first time in my

life and loved (d) it. I¡¯m grateful to that high school girl

that I was for having the sense to buy a little blank

book. I used it to save my life and to help others.

(D)

But I put the notebook away and promptly forgot about

(e) it and about becoming a journalist. Painting became

my great love. Upon graduating from high school, I went

to college as a fine art major and English minor. After

becoming a professional artist, marriage followed, then

the birth of two daughters. A career change came next

which led to teaching underprivileged young children in

Los Angeles. The years passed.