Diaries and love letters.

Some people though write diaries intending them to be read. Someone has quote Pepys here. I would say he knew very well that people would read it - in fact I think he would have been disappointed if they hadn't.

This is a fascinating thread. Some time ago my sister who is 10 years older than me moved house. She and her husband came across a bunch of letters I had written to her from February 1959 to August 1960. I was offered them back.. She had moved away from home when she got married. When I read through they were very amusing and gave me a very happy feeling of that teenage time when I was 15/16 years old. Girlish excitement about parties,dances,the latest crush, school days. One alarming account was of an attack on a school friend of mine whilst she was walking home in the dark and how a valient boy school friend had accosted the attacker and scared him off. I had completely forgotten about that.
The letters were like diaries really. There was one particular boy mentioned who was very special who really liked me. I wished I had married him but I was too young to think of that. We went our separate ways after school was over, and I made a very bad marriage choice. Lasted 3 years
Recently I found former boyfriend on Facebook and we have been happily (and innocently) corresponding. Warm feelings. And happy recollections.

When we were clearing my parents house after they had both passed away we found a box of letters sent to my mum when my dad was serving in WW2 and also after being taken prisoner of war. At the bottom of the box were all the ones that she had written to him. They are difficult to read because the very fine airmail paper is fading as is the ink. But the contrast is interesting, she writes of mundane domestic life although she had a job and was a fire warden while he writes about serving in Malta and then later of life in a POW camp. My own children aren’t particularly interested so I am sure my grandchildren will be even less so but at present I can’t bring myself to throw them away.

My aunt had a very interesting life during the war. She worked in China and later for a charity saving children after the concentration camps. Unfortunately when she left my daughter her house another cousin was so annoyed he went to the house and removed all her letters and souvenirs before we arrived.

We, as a family, had a ceremonial burning of my parents' love letters, and remembered them and the love they had kept so strong for over 60 years.

I decided to keep a diary for the year I was 18 and wrote it faithfully every night. After 32 years of marriage I am in the middle of a divorce and have discovered my soon-to-be ex has destroyed it along with everything else relating to anyone before him.

I am really angry, but mostly upset, as when I was writing the diary I wanted to be able to look back to that significant year and reflect. Now I can't!

My grandad and grandma wrote the most beautiful love letters to each other during WW2 when he was stationed overseas . There are some gorgeous “sweetheart photos” together with photos of my mum as a baby and her 2 brothers with lovely little notes “to daddy”

My dad has them ( not his parents) and I this thread has reminded me I would love to see them all again .
I have never had one of my own.

I have a lovely postcard reminding me of a brief encounter with an Austrian UN soldier. My friend got off with his mate. We had such a good night even though the boys didn't speak much English.Funny how such a strong connection can occur in a short time. He obviously felt the same by the message he sent.

Different opinions on this subject. I recently had to clear my dear older sisters house after she died. She had a box of photos of the 'old family' dating back to 1900 or so. Also in the box were the ,' courting' letters from my father to my mother, a long distance courtship. I was intrigued and interested to look at the photos because I was born late to my parents who were in their 40s. I never knew my grandparents except for one very elderly grandmother who died early in my life. Coming to the letters, I did decide to read them. They filled me with such love and appreciation that my dad was such a dear person and that my mum had cherished his letters for 74 yearsAlso some diary snippets which gave me some idea of their life in those days long before I was born. A warm connected feeling. My other sister however although interested in the photos decided not to read the letters as she felt they were private.

After my mum died we found love letters written by my dad during their courtship and early years of marriage. He wrote on their first Christmas as a married couple of how he hoped after 60 years of marriage they would look back on that year as the beginning of a wonderful life. Sadly he died young and our memories of him are sketchy. I'm so, so glad my mum kept these letters and know that she wanted us to read them because she sorted her personal things during her illness and left them with her photos and other memorabilia

Did you know there is a place you can send old diaries to and they are not opened for thirty years but they make excellent social history, that is what I will do

GabriellaG54
Yes, they are indeed. We lived in the 15th (Boucicaut) and I have many wonderful photos of our time there.
He was born and bred in Paris, so knew it well and took great pride in showing me his city.

Auntieflo

Funny you should say that. After my sight diagnosis I decided I better look sharp and do all the paintings and drawing I'd put off, 'to do later', as there wasn't going to be a 'later' !!

So I made this painting of a beautiful window in Montmartre.

Here it is - by no means expertly done, the AMD was well advanced by then. The 'La Fin' which is 'fantasy French' indicates this was my last ever painting.

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." - Oscar Wilde

Dad got rid of a lot of photos my Mum had from before she was married when the album started falling to pieces. We didnt know until Dad passed away but pics I remember from my childhood had gone - many of them group ones with Mum in them. Such a shame.

My mum died 3 years ago and I have a large bundle of letters written from my Dad to her in the war, which I have read the odd one or two.

I have a very large plastic box of loose photos with names on the back which I am slowly trying to sort through to build a family tree !!

I have a fascinating diary which belonged to my aunt, my mother's half sister. It covers a period in the early 1920s when she lived in Rome (and I have also some photos which relate to that period in her life) then there are gaps and she has written again when she emigrated to Australia in 1948 - she had an affair with the Ships Purser! It is so interesting to hear about how her day to day life was. Sadly I never met her but still have a little cuddly koala she sent when I was born! DH has letters his mother received from his father when they were courting plus the ones DH wrote to her when he was at University - she must have worried about some of the things he mentioned, although he did leave out quite a lot!

I keep everything, I even insisted my DH kept photos and papers from his first marriage as he wanted to destroy them. My DD and I have a laugh looking through photos at mine and her dads god awful taste in men and women before we met. Your past is what shapes your present and future, you must always acknowledge it even if it is hard to bear.

I keep diaries when I travel, but not otherwise. My travel diaries anyone is welcome to read now, or after my death.

Last year I started going through photos etc and destroying anything that I don't want others to see. I doubt anyone will be interested, but you never know.

The WW1 photos have gone to my cousins, as they concern our mutual grandparents, great uncles and aunts. Sorting through WW2 photos to see if there is anything that should be offered to a museum or local archive.

Later photos are really only of any interest if you know the people concerned, so I am keeping the ones I know I want to look at and throwing the rest out.

Still haven't worked out what to do with my father's medical diploma in Latin from the University of St. Andrew's. I'll probably leave it for someone else to dispose of after my demise.

A friend presented me with @ couple of letters I’d written to her when I was around 15. She had moved away wi5h her family, I was horrified at what I’d written....I was thrilled that my handwriting however was much nicer than it is today.....but the rambling content of a boy obsessed 15yearold ?

How utterly utterly romantic BradfordLass72
Typical Parisian escapism.
Are the pictures of places where you met?

I have all the letters my late husband wrote whilst stationed in Palestine in 1945/6. He wrote almost daily and they are interesting to know what conditions were like in Palestine and Syria at that time considering what is happening there now.
I have some of my shopping lists with prices in 1947, 1950s, 1960s.
I am sorry that my mother destroyed photos of my father as a child and when he was in the army in 1914/18. Still have photos of my grandmother in 1880, (sixteen years old well corseted and a bustle)
myself when three months and nine months old and childhood.
Albums full of photos of my children and grandchildren from birth onwards which the little ones still find interesting and my son has told me not to destroy.
He is president of his local historical society and wishes more photos and documents had been kept.

SheilaSue words can't express , so

Bradfordlass72, such lovely photos, especially the last one.
It would make a beautiful painting.

Caro 57

Have you thought of contacting ‘Long Lost Family’ re DH’s half brother?

I have kept a diary since I was 16. They are interesting to look back on. Especially things from when my children were small. One thing that confuses me is from early diaries I mention people by first name only, but I can't remember who they were . Now at the start of the year I write the name in full to jog my memory for when I look back later.

Some very touching posts/memories on this thread so thank you for sharing. Sheilasue, a terrible shame you had to keep diaries for those horrific reasons, and that the British justice system (and maybe mental healthcare services) seem to have failed you and your family

I'm currently in the process of sorting out stuff, culling possessions, organising etc - I think may have a few old diaries that need shredding and the last time I looked through some photos there were loads that I have no recollection whatsoever of the people in them so there must be a lot of photos I can now get rid of without feeling bad about it - I will drag them into the living room so if there are any that mean anything to my better half he can have them; a good friend of his died last year and I was able to find a photo of the friend to give him and I think I have a couple more of his old friends. I'd like to leave things easier to sort out to make the process less painful for him. Need to crack on with re-writing my will too!