Lisa

In any case, I’m starting to wonder if Peter really does still think of me as the little girl I was then, tagging along after my big brother and impressed by everything he did. I mean, we haven’t really had much of a one-on-one relationship for the past few years.… It’s almost like we don’t know each other at all these days.

Anyway, I’m not sure how to respond to his letter. He’s probably not really expecting me to write back. I could just ask Mom if I can add a note at the end of her next letter.

But every time I think of doing that, I remember the look on Peter’s face when he first showed me how to shift the car out of neutral. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” he told me with a wink. “It’s a secret brother-sister thing.”

I can’t help thinking this letter should be strictly a brother-sister thing, too. Maybe it’s a chance for us to get to know each other again.

Dear Diary
,

Page one of a new diary … what a big event! Especially since I haven’t written in months and months. I know I used to write almost every day, but somehow I’ve gotten so busy I almost forgot I ever had a diary. That’s going to change. I really want to start writing regularly again, once a week at least. That’s why I spent most of my allowance buying this new diary.

Actually, at first I was just going to start again in my last diary. But when I dug it out of my desk drawer, I remembered one of the reasons I put it away in the first place. My brother Peter sent it to me for my birthday
last year, and Peter’s so much older than I am that I guess he thinks I haven’t changed at all since he left for college. I mean, the last time we saw each other every day, I was still wearing pigtails and playing with dolls and stuffed animals, so he must have thought that diary would be right up my alley. I would never want to hurt his feelings by saying so, but I don’t think fluffy kittens with big blue eyes and bonnets on their heads were
ever
up my alley. I mean really!

Anyway, that’s why I went out and bought this new diary yesterday. But the reason I got inspired to start writing again in the first place was a magazine article I read a couple of days ago. It was called “Life Journals” and it was about people who keep really good diaries. One of the people in the article was a middle-schooler like me, but most of the others were adults. The article was really interesting—a lot of the people have been keeping journals and diaries since they were kids, and they love looking back over the years and remembering their lives that way. Some keep journals all the time, while others like making scrapbooks for big vacation trips or other important events, like weddings and stuff.

The most interesting part, though, was that a lot of the people go beyond just writing down what happened to them that day. For instance, this one woman has a big, oversized diary, sort of like a photo album. She writes in it a couple of times a week, plus she pastes in things to help her remember all the interesting things she does from day to day—she’s saved napkins
from nice restaurants, movie ticket stubs, letters from friends, play programs, snapshots, even her dog’s obedience-school diploma! She’s really creative about finding ways to remember the little things that are pretty easy to forget.

I think I want to do something like that, too. I’ll probably skip the snapshots (I have my photo album for that already), and I doubt Dolly will be getting a diploma anytime soon (though Mom keeps threatening to send her to doggy detention if she digs up the petunias one more time), but I’m going to try to paste in any other things that seem interesting and will help me remember. I can at least put in letters (not that I get that many) and maybe print out some e-mails from my friends (though I may have to edit some of the longer horse-related ones from Carole, unless I want to buy a new diary every week! Ha ha!).

Speaking of my friends, they’re already giving me a hard time about this diary project. Naturally, as soon as I told them about it at the stable yesterday, Stevie started making jokes: “Only Lisa Atwood could come up with her own homework to do during the summer,” and so on. I know she thinks it’s crazy—the last thing Stevie would ever do is volunteer for more homework—but in a way she’s right. I’ve been feeling like my brain is starting to rot from underuse this summer, and this should be a fun and interesting way to keep myself occupied.

As for Carole—she doesn’t have anything against
diaries, since she’s kept one herself from time to time. But of course she thinks mine should be all about horses. She couldn’t believe I didn’t get one with a picture of a horse on the cover!

Still, whoever said best friends always have to think alike? It’s not like there’s ever been much danger of that with the three of us. Since the first day we all met at Pine Hollow Stables, I’ve known that Carole Hanson is the horse-craziest person on the planet. I’ve also known that Stevie Lake can’t be serious about anything for more than two seconds, especially if it’s got anything to do with school. Despite all that, somehow we manage to work pretty well together as a team. I’m sure The Saddle Club has something to do with it. Ever since we started it, it’s just seemed natural that we all have our own different, unique personalities and yet we fit together so perfectly. I used to think The Saddle Club should have more than two rules, but I’ve changed my mind. I think the two we have are just perfect—members have to be horse-crazy, and they have to be willing to help each other. That leaves a lot of room for us to include different people.

Anyway, I’m getting away from the point here, which is that I’m really excited about this diary/scrapbook idea, no matter how much my friends tease me about it. For one thing, it will be good practice in case I decide to become a newspaper reporter or some other kind of writer someday, like my English teacher kept saying I should. For another, it will give me something
really nice to look back on in the future. I’m definitely going to try to write at least once a week for the whole summer … although this new diary is so nice and fat it will probably last me all the way through high school!

So here goes—my first weekly entry. Unfortunately it’s been kind of a slow week. Not much is happening other than the usual stuff. Prancer, my favorite new horse at Pine Hollow, seems to be getting better every day. Max isn’t letting anyone ride her, of course, because her injured leg is still weak, but her sweet personality is as healthy as ever. Carole is still working hard at training her horse, Starlight. They’ve been spending a lot of time jumping lately. Stevie has been trying to teach Topside to nod his head when she says yes, but it’s not working so far. Max says it’s because he’s a sensible horse and not a circus performer, but naturally Stevie isn’t giving up. In other words, things at Pine Hollow are pretty normal. My friends and I spend tons of time there, going to lessons and Pony Club meetings and taking trail rides together. And of course we’ve been spending plenty of time at TD’s, our favorite ice cream place, as well. Yesterday Stevie ordered marshmallow topping and pineapple chunks on rum raisin, and I thought the waitress was going to dump it over her head when she brought it to the table. Boy, if that’s the most interesting thing I can come up with to write about, I guess my life must be pretty boring!!!

Let’s see, what else? Mom and Dad are the same as always. Peter called home the other day from England, but I was at the stable so I didn’t get to talk to him. Mom told me his college in London just finished for the year and he’s planning to spend the next couple of months traveling around Europe. Sounds like fun! Maybe if I could do something like that, I’d have more interesting things to write about …