The Journals

Day 280

As I have mentioned before, I am very jealous impressed with my cousin Jeremy's drive to write in his journal. That was perhaps the biggest motivations for me to start this blog and to keep it going past the 365 mark.

I have never kept a steady journal except for my two year LDS mission to New York. I had a small Garfield journal that I kept for about two weeks in total that I still have. I still look through all these journals and I am happy that I kept some sort of journal. 

I got my first journal for Christmas from Santa Claus and I wrote some things in it that I would like to share.

Dec 23rd 1982

Today is the day I did it. I made it up which girlfriend I want. I want Tammy R + Carmen. I like Carmen better.

(*sigh* young love...)

Jan 8th 1983

Today I quit with Carmen. She is dumb very. I would like to have Tammy R.

(that didn't last too long... at least I am the one that broke it off with her)

June 22nd 1983

I love Olivia Newton John. I got her poster and tape. I can't wait for her to love me. She's cute, very cute.

(Okay... I didn't have her poster. I just took out the cover to the tape and hung it up on my wall next to a Star Wars card of Princess Leia. I still like Olivia Newton John)

(Yup... that's the one. I think I still have that tape lying around somewhere. Or hanging up somewhere...)

July 9th, 1983

This morning my sister's hamster died at 1:00AM. The hamster's name was Midnite. I cried. My dad held Midnite and put him under the bed. We are going to bury him (in the) backyard.

(I remember this pretty clearly. We did bury him in the backyard in our garden. My dad had him in a shoebox. Jennifer didn't want to cry because she had just put on her makeup. I tried to be strong and not cry so Jennifer wouldn't but I did anyway. My dad said a prayer and we buried him)

This was my next journal. My sister got it for me when I left for my mission and I am so glad that she did. I wrote daily the whole time I was on my mission. This was the first volume.

This was the last journal I wrote in. My second volume of my time spent in New York.

I am thankful for the many examples I have in my life that are writing in their journals and are doing a blog. I know that these writings will be valuable for our family and posterity.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Day 252

I am in awe of those bloggers that try to cover every one's birthday on their blogs. I thought about doing that since I would have something to blog about the majority of the time but then I thought of the workload and I remembered that I don't remember occasions like these. And I would feel incredibly stupid if I accidentally missed someone. I am horrible at remembering birthdays and stuff like that. So I decided against covering all the birthdays aside from my own family.

But I have made a special case (Get it? Case - case?) for my fellow bloggers. One of the biggest advantages of blogging with my fellow bloggers is that you will not miss their birthday. And really, I have only a few extra blogs to cover and they don't come for awhile. And I would be carrying some extra guilt since they wrote about me on my birthday. (wink, wink)

And today is a special day, it is my cousin and fellow newbie blogger Jeremy's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As he mentioned on his blog Jeremy are close. Maybe it was because our birthdays are so close to each other, personally I think it is because we knew each other in Heaven before this life. And we saw what crazy families we would be apart of and we vowed to try to strengthen and keep ourselves sane. (Only kidding folks... out families are not that crazy)

I guess I was the exhibisionist of the family eh?

I love this picture of us with Grandpa. Who would have thought that we would both have the same hairstyle now?

We have a lot of similarities. We both like to write and he is perhaps the biggest influence on my writing. I started this blog because I wanted to have some sort of record of my life. I regret that I never kept a journal like Jeremy has. I am in awe, I mean I am completely jealous of his tenacious ability to write and keep a journal. Jeremy also has a beautiful way with words. And not only can he creatively write, he has the best penmanship! Seriously, I wish I could write cursive the way he does.

Now I just need him to sit down and crank out that great American novel! I know he has it in him. I am looking in your direction this November Jeremy!

I hope you don't mind me sharing this. This was one of the novel ideas he had that he shared with me. Maybe this November you should write a rough draft or add another chapter? ;)

I actually created a character based directly on Jeremy. Remember Jetstream?

There are many things that Jeremy knows about me but no one else does. He was very instrumental while I was serving my LDS mission to New York. He inspired me to keep a daily journal (which I did) of those two years. I have shared with him parts of that journal so he knows stuff that I have never shared with anyone else. He also wrote me regularly while I was in New York. His letters were always so uplifting and full of creativity. What I enjoyed most of his letters was his honesty. Not only did we share what we thought and felt, we also shared writing ideas. On my P-Days (the one day of the week you had off while on the mission) I would write and plot stories and then send them to Jeremy. I would get some valuable feedback but he would also send me his story ideas and I fed off of that energy. Thanks Jeremy! You helped me through many difficult times on my mission.  I believe it was during this time that we coined the phrase "Soul Cousins".

I still have all your old letters from the mission field. I love that you sent me a Star Wars card. We must have asked to be sent to Earth so we could see Star Wars while growing up.

 I have some fond memories of spending time with Jeremy and all the CaseClan. I was lucky that I had a cousin my age (remember, I am still older than you!) that I could hang out with. You have been through so much and I have never heard you complain or utter a word of despair and I admire that. I am so glad that you have taken this blogging challenge. I think I will continue past my time to keep you company during this year-long adventure.

I hope you have a great birthday. And may the Force be with you!