We have been home from Germany for about 3 weeks now. I’ve spent some time wrapping up my mission blog, Our Frankfurt Germany Mission, where more than 700 experiences and memories and trips are documented and preserved. It feels good to safely tuck those memories away where I can return to them whenever I want to.
Now it’s time to return to Ann’s Words, where my home life experiences are recorded and kept safe. I’ve spent some time this morning looking back at old posts and memories I’ve not thought about for quite awhile. These memories are like gold to me. I thought about the Memoir class taught by Ann Dee Ellis that I took at BYU in the fall of 2012, where we were given the assignment to start a blog and make at least 5 entries a week during that semester. My very first post is here. I was not excited about the assignment. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t have time, I didn’t read blogs written by other people. I had enough on my plate. But I was committed to completing school assignments, so I started.
For the record, here’s what has happened since the beginning of that semester in 2012:
Ann’s Words: 1,345 posts
Ann’s Stories (Family History): 811 posts
Our Washington Yakima Mission: 2,473 posts
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission: 1,017 posts
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission: 702 posts
That means this is my 6,352nd post (captured memory)! It’s almost unbelievable to me. If I were ever to see Ann Dee Ellis again, I’d probably kiss her feet.
I am grateful to you readers and friends from all over the world. Just yesterday, visitors to Ann’s Words have checked in from 16 different countries. Since I started writing here, I’ve had visitors from 245 different countries. Quietly, we share our words and our thoughts and what is meaningful to us.
I’m grateful that (under some duress) I made that first post, and grateful that I kept going. These words will outlive me, and the day will come that these words will define who I was, what I believed, and how I lived according to those beliefs. Because of these words, my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all future generations will know me and know that I love them, think about them, and write for them.
Words are such a gift. Preserving our words is so important. My love to you all. It’s good to be back.