(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
We humans love our memories. From the social media memories features, to "On This Day in History" columns, to our genealogy research--we cherish the past. And the only way for future generations to do the same is if we record the present. I feel pretty confident in saying that your grandkids aren't going to have access to your Facebook memories, and whether that makes you sad or relieved, you'll need another way--an analogue way--to pass down your voice. Thank goodness for the journaling renaissance that's happening right now. Daily pages, journals, diaries, commonplace books--all these volumes will give the future a clearer window into these "interesting times."
If you're looking for a way to record your thoughts over a passage of time, the Midori 5 Year Diary is the perfect place to start. Each page of the book is labeled with the date, and then divided into five sections, one for each consecutive year. You make your entry each day, then at the end of the year, start back at the beginning. The daily sections are small, encouraging brevity, so it never takes more than a minute or two to complete your daily entry. It's still just enough room to list your day's headlines.
You don't even need to use it for general entries. The format would work very well as a baby book, a weather log, a mood or health tracker, a business or career tracker, an ink journal, or travel journal. It looks rigid, but it is endlessly flexible.
The Midori 5 Year Diary comes in a number of colors. All of them look fantastic. This special embroidery edition comes in both black and white. The cover is a cotton or linen fabric with colorful stitchwork. The embroidery is done in actual thread--it isn't a printed image. It is very pretty and tactile. It comes with a vinyl book cover to protect the stitchwork, but I've taken that off so I can enjoy the texture. I don't care if it gets worn--in fact, I expect it to, after five years of use. Assuming I can keep it up. So far, so good.
Inside the beautiful cover are 193 sheets of ivory Midori MD paper. It's top-tier paper and performs well with almost anything.
The standard edition of the 5 Year Diary sells for $42.50, and this embroidered edition sells for $65. That's very steep for a notebook, even one intended to be an heirloom. This is one of those cases where it's worth it to you if it's worth it to you. It is very well made, clearly designed to stand up to those long years of use. If you're intending for it to be a future gift to a loved one, then this level of quality makes sense.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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