On my 28th birthday, my dear friend Jenny gave me a special gift — a five year journal. As a lifelong lover of words, I’ve been given many journals of the years, but never one like this: the journal is designed to write just one line (or a few sentences) every day for five years straight. So on any given day, you can see where you were, who you were with, what you were doing, thinking, or feeling exactly a year, or a few years prior.

Jenny included a lovely inscription inside the cover:

Marley! I know you like to document life with photographs, but when I heard of this 5-year-long journal I immediately thought of you…

I remember thinking it was a thoughtful gift. But it also felt a bit like being handed a challenge: Write something every single day for the next five years. Stick to it. Don’t forget.

Okay, I thought. Challenge accepted.