How do I get notes I wrote from a prior date?

Not paying any attention to dates, I used "notes" to make all kinds of notations about things to do, things I wanted to remember, notes about different places, people and things. Then, one day something got attached to a date and it appeared all by itself on a page. Before I could panic, I saw that if I clicked on that item, I was returned to all those notes; that is, until I managed to get items on different dates. Suddenly, that one long, long page was no longer available because, I finally figured out, it was for a prior date. Now I have made notes for different dates and understand all that. I finally figured out that I can't get to my original long, long wonderful list of things because it is on a date that is old. Please, someone, tell me how can I get that old date back so that I can access all those items? That magic date is September 9, 2012.