I Do Not Keep a Diary by Will Rees

This essay crossed our online path this morning, and it seemed resonant with Barbara's many years of journaling and retaining mementos of her illness & recovery. Rees writes: 

My favorite moments in any writer’s diary are those when they break the  flow in order to note down something entirely for themselves: a shopping  list or a to-do list, lists of words learned, books read, films watched   . . .  These moments pierce me: more so than any narrative, they have  the power to restore an entire world and to make time’s arrow resemble a  question mark.

Bad Hair Day on Planet Earth contains lists (of food eaten, clothing desired, reasons to stay alive)  multiple attempts at spelling words, memoranda from the sub-conscious. All of the minute details, filled with pathos and humor, that brings Barbara's struggle alive.

~Jude