When Charles Lee handed me the small red notebook in 1974，he changed my life．"While travelling，you should keep notes on the things you see and do．
(1) ，you will forget them some day，"he explained．I was staying in his house when travelling in England．
I took his
(2) ．I wrote in the notebook every day during the homestay and back to university．I recorded weekend trips，my professors and ideas about my life and future．
When I wrote，I wondered about my
(3) and purpose．Who would read this？Was I recording events and ideas just as a reminder to memory，or was there some larger purpose for this
(4) exercise？
I got a big picture for the task．I was recording events，thoughts，words that were
(5) to my life．I
(6) a future me sitting down to read the pages．I wondered what it would feel like to read those words later．
I filled the notebook Charles gave me．I bought a new one and
(7) it．Then another and another．
Recently，I decided to look through my notebooks in the past 42years．Charles had been
(8) ．I remembered the big
(9) ，the central happenings，but on each page were details I had
(10) ．
I hadn't written every day，but I always picked up the
(11) when it felt important．I often wrote in them at school
(12) my students were writing．I wanted to pass on the
(13) Charles had given me．These writings formed a continuous
(14) between my past，present，and future through events in my life．
It took several long evenings to read through my notebooks．As I read，I suddenly realized they are a gift to the
(15) me-----I am now the person I was writing to throughout those years．