Since we are all writers, it's a sure bet that we are all absolutely wonderful at writing our personal journals, family history, and scintillating family newsletters. Right?

Now that we have had our chuckle for the day, let's get serious. Since I'm probably the world's worst at this, I am going to preach to myself and you can all listen in. I'm a great one for lists (I'll list things I have already done, just so I can mark them off), so I am going to jot down some notes to remind myself why these things are important.

1. Record of events. My friend Sarah needed to get her son enrolled in school. She looked high and low and could not find his medical records to prove that he had received all his shots. She finally resorted to her journal, taking it to the school office to show where she had recorded taking him to the doctor. They accepted her journal entries and admitted him to school.
2. Memory joggers. I hope it isn't because of age, but it seems it is harder and harder to remember things. There was a traumatic event, involving several of my family members in an auto accident. I've talked of this event several times and thought I had a clear recollection. Then I found my journal (I do keep one sporadically). My first thoughts were to wonder how I could have recorded the events so inaccurately. Ha!
3. Measurements. Sometimes life can be discouraging and cause us to sincerely doubt ourselves. What a wonderful experience to go back through the records of your life and see how much you have grown. Being able to chart your own progress through the events of your life seems to lend strength and courage for the current happenings.
4. Family unity. Newsletters keep families in touch. Family histories make connections with ancestors, and our journals may be the link from us to our own descendants. Isn't it thrilling to find something written by, or even about, a great among our family ancestry? Somehow it strikes a chord that makes us feel that we really knew them. Thus it will be when we are the great, great-whatevers, and the generations to come will feel the same about us if we leave a written record for them to know us by.

Could it be enough to do it just because the prophets have counseled us to do so? I really am going to renew my efforts to keep a journal. My sister and I have talked of doing a family history, maybe it is time to get serious about that. The family newsletter? Well, who has time, if we're writing journals, family histories, and articles/poems/books?

Do you think it would count if I organized a family chain? I could write a message, send it to one person, they could add to it, send it to the next, etc. By the time it came back to me, everyone would be involved and I could just delete my original message, add a new message to the end, and start all over again. Gee, I'll have to think about that.