Recently my neighbor Sally and I discovered that in 1978 we were on the same tour group in Europe. It was rather a remarkable discovery since I was 20 at the time from Orem and she was 17 and from Ogden. What brought about this discovery was mentioning where we were when the LDS church made the momentous announcement that the priesthood would be extended to males of all races. I said I was in Europe and she said, "so was I. I was in a hotel in Munich and we all came running out in the halls." "Whoa! Are you kidding me?" I said. It was a bunch of kids from Ogden High (or Weber) not sure, and then a few random people from other places--me being one of them.
I went over to her house to see a photo she found with the two of us sitting in a group shot with only one person between us. The fact that we have no memory of each other for such a life-changing trip got me thinking about the past. I dug into some stuff looking for photos of Europe and came across partial journals of the past.
I've looked up what I was doing on this date. My first diary I got in 1967, but couldn't find anything written close to October except this entry on November 23, 1968 (I was 11)
"Today Orem played against Provo in football for state. I went with Shellee. Orem won. I'm so glad."
Strange to me that I ever wrote about sports. I remember trying to enjoy watching sports, but I was usually very bored. Shellee was one of my very best friends at the time. She was so athletic in school that had girls sports been much of an option--yes this was a long time ago--she would have been on every team. As it was she ended up in high school as a cheerleader.
The next journal I found I wrote on Sat. October 14th. 1972 Age 15:
Today began with me getting up at 9:00
and watching The Flinstones Comedy Hour, then the Funky Phantom. Then I went up and sat on the roof and drew a few picture, (I love to draw.) Well now I'm here babysitting for Van Wagoners. Jean Dixon predicted we would have an earthquake. I think it was supposed to happen either today or yesterday. Well so far it hasn't and I don't think it will. I know it won't. Last night (Friday the thirteenth) Rosanna slept at my house. Shell W. took us to get some pizza. We had a good time.
What's interesting to me here is that in my memory I never slept in. The fact that I slept until 9:00 and then watched about 2 hrs of television (cartoons!) is a surprise. My memory has me waking up around 7 and waiting for my friends to wake up so we could do something. Rosanna mentioned was on the Europe tour in 1978.
On Saturday October 13 1973 (age 16) I wrote:
Well the holiday's pretty well over. (probably deer hunt--we used to get out for that.
)Monday I'll be going back to the prison and the though of it doesn't put me in too great of mood besides today was a waste.
Sunday, October 14th 1973 Nothing to say about this day. ha.
Perusing the pages around these days though there are several mentions of hikes, art, movies, mountains, and my religion. I mention friends in nearly every entry. Almost nothing about my family--my brothers or my parents. At age 10 I even wrote my friends of the week which are always Shellee, Rosanna, sometimes Geri. My enemies of the week are also listed. It seems my values of course have deepened and grown through time, but what was important to me as a child, teen, and now hasn't changed as much as I would have expected. We always hear God is in the details and even though the details I shared here don't allude to that, many other entries do. My friends are still very important to me. But of course now my family is always in my heart and in every thought and in every prayer.
