Journals

Everyday the boys have a check list of jobs and homework they must complete.  Writing in a journal is one of their daily assignments.  This morning I saw Matt downstairs next to the TV with his journal by his side.   I was happy to see that one of the boys was going to get their work done early.  I told Matt I was proud of him for writing in his journal without being reminded.  He said that he was excited to write in it today.  As he walked home from swim team, he thought about something that happened and he wanted to record it so he could use it in a talk in church in the future.  I was surprised and impressed.  That's my Matt.  Here's the entry: (I LOVE his cursive...)

Matt is totally right.  Heavenly Father will help us get out of the pool and Satan will always try to hit us back in.  I love Matt's deep thoughts and am so grateful that he was impressed to write this experience down.  If he had not, that wonderful thought would have soon be forgotten and that little life lesson would have been lost.

I love journals.  The written word is powerful tool.  We can use journals not only help us remember our lives, but they can be an influence for good on other people, especially family members that read them.  We can write down personal experiences.  We can bear our testimony.  We can record special and meaningful events.  We can put to pen our thoughts, ideas, inspirations, hopes, dreams and goals. 

A few weeks ago I was digging through my cedar chest trying to find our marriage certificate so Rich could add me to his new insurance plan.  Josh was downstairs with me and we stumbled upon my first journal.  It is small and pink and has a tiny lock that wraps around the pages. I started writing in it when I was nearly 8 years old.  My first entry was about my excitement for my baptismal date.  Josh laughed at my horrible spelling, but I could see he could suddenly see me as a seven year old girl.  We spent the next hour reading the entire thing.  I was interesting how many of the entries were truly memorable things in my life and I am sure because I wrote them down, I can easily recall them today.  I wrote about the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and that I still longed to be an astronaut when I was older.  I wrote about my first crush and how I one day in second grade I told him I did not love him anymore.  Josh nearly hyperventilate from laughing and grabbed the book and ran upstairs to share that bit with Trey and Matt.  I told about the day when a woman our ward was killed in a car accident. Her son was in Greg's school and primary class.  I wrote about friends, school and what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I wrote about starting young women's and beginning personal progress.  The little journal covered over five years of my life.  

The next day I read my notebook from my English class in seventh grade.  I chuckled when I saw that in my first entry I wrote that I was going to be a radiologist.  I wrote in jest how I would LOVE to live in Hawaii (which I did for a year) and that I loved to go to the mall and spend money (not much has changed...) and that I had a passion for Halloween even back then.  It was funny to read what I ate for lunch or read what my activities my brothers were doing, but the part I enjoyed the most was remembering what it was like to be twelve.  I loved having a peek into my life back then and being able to recall what was important to me and what I hoped I would accomplish in my life.

I finished up my journal marathon by reading a journal I wrote in Hawaii.  From the first entry to the last I could see my own personal growth over those ten months.  I was ready to find love (which happened just weeks after I got home when I met Rich).  I was sure of who I was and what I wanted in life.  I had grown up a lot living away.  It was remarkable to see the change that occurred in my life and that I had been able to capture that growth through words.    

Since then I have used many various way of keeping records.  For years I kept emails I sent to my brothers on missions, printed them out and put them in binders.  They were a great way to jot down our happenings and highlights of the moment.  I made special books for the boys.  Then I started a blog.  Blogs are a wonderful.  They allow me to write and include pictures of the event.  I can easily share my thoughts or our activities with family and friends.  Yes, a blog does not replace a personal journal, but it is a fantastic way to remember what we have been doing or what I am thinking about at that time.

My boys loved reading my journals.  They love reading the blog.  They love digging through the many plastic bins I have hidden under beds that are full of school work and drawings and special things.  Numerous time I have found them upstairs in their room surrounded by piles of papers and art work reading their own journals.  I love that they are special to them and they value them as much as I do.

I'll keep blogging.  The kids will keep writing.  And someday down the road, some little child will sit in awe as they listen to their grandma's word or about their parent's life clear back in the year 2010.  Remarkable?  Yes.  And all because we simply just wrote it down.