The Patch has been rather neglected while I’ve been in Colorado. The crickets have been chirping. And I have missed this place! It’s not that I haven’t been writing; I’ve just not been writing here. Mainly, I’m working on my writing project and some articles, but I’ve also been doing a lot of journaling. And by journaling, I mean thinking, pondering, praying, note-taking, Bible study, and musing. That takes a lot of paper.
And after seven weeks here (how is it we’ve been here that long already?!?!), I was on the last pages of my current journal. It was time for a new one, which means I have reason to venture into the Beauteous Land of Office Supplies. My heart skips a beat just thinking about row upon row of papers and pens and sticky notes—oh my!
In many areas of life, I prefer to change things up. Not so with my journal. I want my black, spiral-bound Mead Cambridge Limited. I have used this journal for years. I like the way they all line-up together on my shelf. So this is the one I had in mind and planned to buy, to keep with tradition. At home, I know exactly where to procure said journal. I know the store, the aisle, even the shelf location. I could get it in my sleep.
But we aren’t at home. I’d have to give Target a try. And it was a Super Target, at that; I went trusting it would live up to its name.

Old Journal, meet New Journal.
As Super as Target may be, it did not have the black-spiral-bound-Mead-Cambridge-Limited. All I could think was, Colorado, don’t fail me now! In a moment’s time, I decided: I could break tradition, and the world would not come to a screeching halt. Deep. Breaths. Although my beloved Cambridge was not on the shelves, other foreign Cambridge journals were available. I flipped through a few, unsure which elements were necessary. Spiral-bound? Lined? Black?
And then.
This gray-and-orange number caught my eye. From the first page, I was smitten. There was a separate side column, beckoning me to jot a little something extra, like a quote or a resolution or a truth from Scripture or an article idea. So I dared greatly (ahem.) and bought the gray-and-orange-composition-style-Mead-Cambridge-Premium-Notebook.

Hello, New Journal. Welcome to my world.
Today is the day. The first page is about to be filled. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself, but I always want the first page to be spectacular. Once again, deep breaths are in order.
Here’s to a new journal on a new day.