Journal keeping

As a child I think my most requested stories from my mom were ones about her childhood.  It was fun trying to imagine her as a little girl like me and hearing what things were like for her at my age.  I also loved it when my great-grandma would come to visit.  She would sit with us and tell stories of her childhood and I was fascinated by her tales of sharing a small wooden cabin in the barren midwest with her parents and many siblings.  It was better than reading Little House on the Prairie (which was a favorite of mine) because they were about my own Gran.   So it has been natural for me to tell memories from my childhood to my kids as bedtime stories.  I think those stories are still the most requested from AP, but he always wants a new one that he's never heard before and after 12 years I'm running out.  So a few weeks ago I decided to pull out my journal from when I was his age and just started reading from it.  I read to him entries about my friends and I going out toilet papering, dressing up as old ladies and visiting some of the boys in my class, rocking rabbits... after a few he got this big smile on his face and said, "you were a naughty girl!"  I never thought of myself that way before, and we had a good laugh together.  Then the other night he got home all hyped up from his Young Men's Activity.  I sent him to bed (because I was ready to be there myself) and he asked me to grab his journal for him.  I didn't realize he'd been keeping one (although he's had several given to him over the years).  When I asked him why he wanted to write in it, he said, "Well why did you write in yours?"  And then, "So I'll be able to remember my stories to tell."  That little moment made me really happy that I had kept a journal because it has not only helped me relate to AP (and him to me), but it has helped him in wanting to keep his own, and I really believe that little thing can be a great blessing in his life.