THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Pleasant Memories Are Welcome Companions

This past month I took a most wonderful journey. I visited California, Colorado, Connecticut and various destinations in Utah. The remarkable reality of this trip was the fact that I never left my living room couch. There I sat, all hunkered down with my favorite fuzzy blanket and perfectly adjusted light while enjoying memories that may have otherwise been forgotten. I felt like Louisa May Alcott when she said, “I had a pleasant time with my mind for it was happy.”

I remembered daffodils in California cheering my heart after a miscarriage. I also remembered the drafty old estate care takers house we endured living in for two years before we purchased our first home. I thought of cherished friends as I ran across letters I received from them years ago.

I also laughed out loud as I read about the things my boys said when they were small. Ryan (now 37) was so mindful of me when I was pregnant with Nick. “Mom,” he said with great sincerity, “Is that baby making you sick again?” He then asked me in a most serious tone, “Will that baby come out of your mouth?” I assured him it would not. Ryan was also thrilled when we set up our new bathroom. He squealed with glee shouting, “Wow, Mom, we carpeted the toilet seat!”

Mattie (now 34) came up to me one day and told me his bottom hurt and then asked me if I would put some gasoline on it. I know he meant Vasoline, but the mental picture was hysterical. Mattie was also a mud magnet. I constantly told him to stay out of the mud so we could save his shoes. He replied to me in a most innocent way, “Gee, Mom, I just forget to look at my feet!”

Nick (now 33) also made memorable comments. We were all on a trip together and I was the only driver so we pulled over and I bought the boys a milkshake and told them to let me rest for a few minutes. I  had just closed my eyes when I heard Nick’s blood curdling scream, “Mom!!! I put a Skittle up my nose!” It was up there so far that I was sure it was on the way to his brain. We finally got it out but it took quite a long time. We still tease him about Skittles to this day. Nick also told me in a most matter of fact manner after a trip to Disney World in Florida that he loved the Magic Kingdom but he didn’t think much of that Apricot Center.

How grateful I am that that I have kept journals all of these years. These and countless other experiences would have not survived if left to my memory. Richard L. Evans once said that pleasant memories are the welcome companions of our aging years. Thanks to the magic of journaling, I have found this to be so.

Kathy Christensen