When I was young, probably about 10 or 11, my sister and I had a contest to see who could write in their journal for the most consecutive nights in a row.  I don’t remember what the prize was but I’m pretty sure my sister won.  I do remember that once during the contest I read her journal.  It was a horrible thing to do and I knew it.  I did it anyway.   She was pretty mad at me when she found out.  As a 12 year old girl I’m sure she had so many secrets to keep.  Like how cute Justin Newman was.

Even thought I didn’t win the contest I won so much more.  Ever since that time I have been a regular journal writer.  (I must admit that I have not been as good about it the last few years.)  That means that I have several journals full of stories about my life.

I decided to have a series called Blast from the Past where I will post one of my journal entries from a random day in the last 20 years of my life.  I may comment on it or I may just let it speak for itself.

We’ll start today.

This was the earliest entry I could find in the few minutes I took to look.

(I left the spelling and grammar just how it was when it was written.)

Dec. 28, 1990

“Today I went sleding and when I got home I went to the store with my mom, sisters and a girl we were tending.  Then when we got home we ate lunch.  Then I played a game named quizzard.  Then I went to clean my room.  I am saposed to be cleaning but my mom left so I’m not.  Today I thought about something.  My boyfriend, my friends thing his is cute but they don’t like his persanaliaty so they don’t like him but I like him.  I think he is cute.  His name is Justin Dunaway.”

Just a couple of thoughts.  First, I was 10.  I didn’t remember having a “boyfriend” when I was ten.  Once I read it, it came back to me.  Of course it was just a “do you want to go out with me,” boyfriend who I said yes to then barely talked to again.  Man, it’s still kind of crazy.  I swear that is too young to like boys.

Second, I laughed when I read that I stopped cleaning because my mom left.  I guess I shouldn’t get so annoyed at my kids when they do the same thing.

 

Last weekend the boys and I spent a few days at The Dirt.  The Dirt is my brother-in-laws (BIL) family’s cabin.  It is a beautiful cabin up in the mountains of Utah close to a reservoir.  I’ve heard about The Dirt many times as it is frequented often by my sister and her family.

My BIL and his family built The Dirt.  Everything they could do themselves they have.  They dug the hole for the foundation, hung the drywall, painted, etc.  They’re still working on the finishes.  Every time they’re there they work on it.  It’s close to finished now and very enjoyable in its present state.

The first day we were there I kept thinking how awesome it was that they had The Dirt, to have a mountain getaway whenever you want without any expense except the gas to get there.   How great would it be to have unlimited access to such a beautiful place?  They keep The Dirt fully stocked so you could really jump in the car with practically nothing and stay for a few days without any problem.

I also kept thinking about all of the lessons that we could teach our boys if we did the same thing.  Not only would they learn construction skills but they would also learn about hard work, delayed gratification, patience, team work, balancing work and play, endurance, setting goals and accomplishing them and much more.

When it was all done, not only would they have learned all of these wonderful lessons but we would have a beautiful place in the mountains that was all our own.  Our kids could enjoy it with their families and then their kids could use it with their families and on and on.

Then I started noticing the pictures on the wall of The Dirt of the early days.  When it was simply a foundation and they were all sleeping in tents.  I was talking to my BIL’s mom and she told me about how they had a camp trailer parked on the lot that they cooked in until the kitchen was finished.  I realized that I was seeing The Dirt after 8-10 years of work.  Sure now it is a really nice place to stay but it wasn’t always that way.

And I realized that all of those lessons that my boys would be learning, I would be right there next to them learning them myself.

Suddenly the idea of building a family cabin wasn’t so enticing anymore.