Judith's Heartsongs Artsy Essay

Judith's Artsy Essay

Why I keep this journal.............


I started writing for myself at an early age, mostly puppy love poetry but I was always encouraged to continue at it by the people that I shared my writing with. My first serious writing came at the age of 23, I found myself pregnant and alone.....I was happy about both. I knew my life was going to change, it needed too.

I never kept a journal after that, my life got to busy after Amanda came into it and even more busy busier after I fell in love with Jim and his Daughter Melissa, then marriage, a house and the addition of two more little darlings and a nervous breakthrough.......I used to call it a breakdown, now I know it was a breakthrough. During that time paper and pencil was only used for phone messages, appointment books, the kids homework, a quick "I Love You" note left in my Husbands bathroom for him the next morning.....every day should start with an "I LOVE YOU."

I didn't get back to my writing until I found AOL JOURNALS.... August 10, 2004........it felt good to be back! This journal is the place I can be just Kimberleigh......not Mom, not Wife, not the crazy woman who lives on ____ Rd. (whole nother story about how I got that name! lol.....maybe someday! lol )

I write in this journal because it is a tangible version of what not only goes on in my everyday life but what goes on in my head. With this journal I have found new glimpses of who I am to be, I have been able to close the door on many of the things that have made me...........me. It is a place where I can share my life, my passion for what I see through my camera lens, my kids, my ongoing love affair with the man I call my Husband and my need for getting it all out and letting it all go. It has allowed me to go deeper than any shrink could have ever pushed me to go before.

It has given me a place to escape to when needed and a place to read about so many amazing people and their lives. I have been inspired by many things that I discovered while visiting other J-Landers and reading about their life, and I have been rewarded with being able to inspire others and them sharing that pleasure with me.

In the end, it's about what we have done in and with our lives that have touched other's....it's about knowing when to be the teacher and when to be the student. This Journal gives me the time to sit down and really learn the lessons I am supposed to learn, some from many years ago that somehow have eluded closure and give me the hope of an even greater tomorrow.

Please visit the other essays at

Judith Heartsong

A very special woman who has learned to color her world with paint!