I can't remember the last time I just stopped and thought about some of the things that matter most to me. This past month I have taken the time to sift through years of memories in the form of pictures, letters and other keepsakes. I have filed away marriage and death certificates. I have scanned pictures, pictures, pictures to be stored somewhere in cyber space. I have gathered family history stories from various places and saved them to my on-line family history records. I have been busy, busy, busy doing these things. I have cried and laughed and been astonished at how things have changed. When I get up in the morning I am already planning what I will be sorting, scanning and organizing that day.
Yesterday, the 13th anniversary of the bombing of the twin towers, I watched memorials and words of tribute. I remembered the feelings of that day and the words and the emotions and the patriotism that followed. And I was reminded about some of the things that matter most . . . at least to me. Here are a few:
Sisterhood:
My mother, Mildred Brakey Hensley, left the Rocky Mountains to move to Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky again never to return to live in the West. If my memories are correct she kept a picture of the Rocky Mountains in our home always. She was always homesick more for the mountains than the people I sometimes thought.
Mom had five daughters but was often sad as she remembered her only sister dying at the age of eight in a tragic accident.
When my sister Pat and I were sorting through some of her things a year or so ago Pat found the note and the check below. I'm pretty sure my mom didn't take a trip west in 1964. And clearly she never cashed this check from a sweet friend at church. But she saved it and we found it after she died.
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| Mildred in 1942 in Colorado with 3 frineds She is 3rd from the left |
1. I have four biological sisters: count MY blessings!
2. I cannot count the number of sisters in the gospel that I have acquired over the 53 years I have been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - eight states, at least 16 different wards, and oh so many relief societies.
3. And of course the "sisters" in my life who are not biological or church sisters but sisters - JUST BECAUSE we were and are blessed to share brief periods of life on this earth together.
Sisterhood = love, laughter, tears, silliness, joy, service, compassion, fun, celebrating the differences in each of us!
"Journals":
I am a staunch believer in writing things down. This is not the forum for all of the reasons why I feel this way. However, in 1972, Roger and I lived in Provo, Utah where he was attending Brigham Young University. We lived in Wymount Terrace, married student housing. Our relief society featured a sister each week by having her husband write about her.
Roger wrote this about me. Would be life be different if he had not done so? Probably not. But oh the tears, laughter, sorrow and joy I feel each time I look at it are, as they say in the commercial, PRICELESS.
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| Janice, Tanya, Roger and our window decorations in 1972 while living in Wymount Terrace in Provo Utah We decorated our windows for just about everything! |
Journaling = memory keeping, sharing, loving, laughing, crying, creating, in words or pictures, letters, notes, calendars, connecting the past, present, future in a remarkable way.
My Testimony
I found my life story, written on "Treasures of Truth" paper, as I recorded it in 1977. I have no memory of writing this testimony and am not certain if I have read through it since I wrote it until I found it again the other day. The song I quoted at the beginning replays in my mind on the first Sunday of each month as I enter church for Fast and Testimony meeting. I don't know who wrote the song but I do remember it from the 1960's and also remember singing it in the Corbin Ward with Sharon Maguet and Tanya (my daughter). They have both died and I can imagine them singing it together in their remarkable voices right now!
Testimony = Everything spiritual or temporal that REALLY matters to me in this life!
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