Millennial's childhood journal from 2001 had just one entry — a haunting account of 9/11: 'Dear Diary...'

Old journals are time-traveling trains captured in trails of alphabet scrawled on papers. As one flips open an old journal, a diary entry comes alive with emotions, smells, sounds, and voices of the past, often immersing the reader into the significant events of history that occurred while they were growing up. Millennials, for instance, grew up experiencing the harrowing 9/11 attacks. Many of them were in school when these devastating attacks hammered America. One of these millennials was Alanah Chatham, who goes by @alanahrochelle on TikTok. Now a 32-year-old woman from Arizona, she recently stumbled upon an old journal in her house, whose sole entry was about the 9/11 attacks. 

Though the video has nearly 4 million views, her diary entry depicts the thoughts of mass death as witnessed by a 9-year-old. "Dear Diary, Tuesday, a plane hit the Twin Tower, now it's all over the news," read the handwritten entry scribbled on the first page of an NSYNC-themed spiral diary. Above this entry, there was a printed green-hued picture of the boyband members, where young Chatham had doodled two towers. “Yikes,” she wrote in the video caption. The blank portion of the page was yellowed out with age.

In an interview with Newsweek, Chatham revealed she found this old diary while going through a storage attic filled with old stationery, baby dresses, and various knickknacks. For her, it was equally shocking and humorous to read the sole entry on the page. While witnessing the tragic event evoked painful emotions, the fact that she jotted it all down in her diary made her chuckle. "My mom was helping me pack, and I just looked up at her with my mouth wide open and started laughing. The fact that it was written in an 'N Sync [boyband] journal and the only entry made it humorous," Chatham said.

Viewers captivated by the nostalgia stirred by Chatham’s video flocked to the comment section to share their thoughts. “This is a primary source,” commented @circe. @ceee_xo said, “This is the most millennial core thing I’ve ever seen. This is us!” @lady_malice wrote, “This should be in a museum.” @goofygaby remarked, “This is lowkey a historical artifact now!” Referring to the blank segment of the page, @drew quipped, “The rest of the page held a moment of silence.” @notedinternationalfool wrote, “Nothing has ever more accurately captured the vibe of 2001.”

Chatham’s diary entry is a lighthearted expression of the tragedy that unfolded in 2001. Still, merely a trigger for this memory shakes the entire nation into a trauma that cannot be erased with time. "I was 9 years old in 2001. I remember I was either pulled out of class, or we were all sent home. I wasn't really sure what was going on. My parents and I met at my friend's house, where they all watched the news for hours," Chatham said while talking about 9/11. Although traces of what happened on that day cannot be completely wiped away from America’s history, these brief journal jottings like Chatham’s are excellent time capsules that remind people that time will heal everything.

You can follow Alanah Chatham (@alanahrochelle) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.