When Charles Lee handed me the small red notebook in 1974, he changed my life. "You should keep notes on the things you see and do while travelling,1you will forget them some day," he explained. I was staying in his house when travelling in England.
I took his2. I wrote in the notebook every day during the homestay and back to university. l recorded weekend trips, my professors and ideas about my life and future.
When I wrote, I wondered about my3and purpose. Who would read this? Was I recording events and ideas just as a reminder to memory, or was there some larger purpose for this4exercise?
I got a big picture for the task. I was recording events, thoughts, words that were5to my life. I6a future me sitting down to read the pages. I wondered what it would feel like to read those words later.
I filled the notebook Charles gave me. I bought a new one and7it. Then another and another. Recently, I decided to look through my notebooks in the past 42 years. Charles had been8. I remembered the big9, the central happenings, but on each page were details(细节)I had10.
I hadn't written every day, but I always picked up the11when I wanted to. I often wrote in them at school12my students were writing. I wanted to pass on the13Charles had given me. These writings formed a continuous(持续的)14between my past, present, and future through events in my life.
It took several long evenings to read through notebooks. As I read, I suddenly realized they are a gift to the15me—I am now the person I was writing to throughout those years.
