Thankful: Memories

This is a journal my parents "made" me keep the summer I turned nine We drove from our home in Alberta all the way down to Baja in Mexico. I have more memories from this trip than some others, and I think it's because of writing them down and reading it over the years.  

My ninth birthday was spent in the home of some family friends in British Columbia. It was a very special day that included a boat ride, s'mores, and a pretty cool cake with a sparkler in the middle! 

    Today I'm thankful for a lifetime of memories and the ability to record them so easily. When we were packing up our house a few months ago I came across this old notebook from a road trip my family took the summer I turned nine. It was so fun to look at my childish handwriting and see a record of some of the things we did. Over the last week I've been able to see much of my extended family and there have been many recollections of times shared in the past. We are currently in Baja California, Mexico, where there are decades of family history kept alive both by the prolific writings of those who have gone before as well as those who remember them. I'm grateful to have been born into a family with such a rich and fascinating history. I'm thankful for all the experiences my parents gave us as children, and for our ability to ex;ore this world with our kids. When I was a single gal, on my own, I ended each day with pen and paper, laborously recording the day's happenings and my thoughts and feelings about them. Now, I turn to my keyboard, which is so much faster! I'm thankful for the ease of recording our own family's history, of putting down these adventures for our kids to read some day. (And yes, they have blank books to fill with their own memories of this adventure.) So today I give thanks for both distant memories and those still in the making.