Memory Lane

   A couple weeks ago my sister presented to me a big box of about twenty years of the weekly emails I had written to her. She printed and saved them but now is trying to downsize. She gave them to me to do with as I wish. I've been enjoying reading through them, finding things I didn't remember, and also getting a picture of myself which isn't always flattering. I picked out a few to save. One of our sons said he has saved every one in a file on his computer. They are there if anyone ever wants anything from them.

   Reading through them is a trip down Memory Lane. I'm finding details of things I had forgotten, like the time a hurricane came through and we were out of electric for 122 1/2 hours. I was bored to tears with nothing to do. I'm reliving trips we took, some of our children's weddings, remodeling jobs in the house, family weekends at the cabin, and much more.

  I had the privilege of babysitting a little grandson one day each week, from the time he was a few weeks old until he went to school. I treasure those memories. I was also much stronger and more ambitious than I am today. I am surprised to see how much work I got done in a week back then. I volunteered at the historical society for about twelve years and enjoyed the work. But as I read how much time I spent running around to trace genealogy, I see it was consuming too much of my life. It was fun and learned a lot but it was overdone. I have repented and will not let myself get sucked in again to that degree.

   I'm also reliving the work that went into some of the books and historical articles I have written. My newest book will be released tomorrow evening at a public meeting. After I finished that book I declared it is my last one; I will stick with short stories and articles from now on and not write any more books.

   I did bend that promise a bit by giving Christian Light some stories that had been in the story papers to be published in a book. That kind is a cheater because the stories were already written. It will appear on the market sometime later this year. I said that will be my fifteenth and final book--unless something too tempting comes along.

   Guess what! Something too tempting came along last week and I'm at it again. It will be a short book, nowhere near the size of the one being released tomorrow that took five years to produce. I hope it will convey a message that will have eternal value. So what can I say? Old writers never die, they just scribble away.