Where were you when....?

Yesterday we took a day trip to Flagstaff and visited one of our favorite places, the Riordan mansion. It's a mansion that was built in 1904, in the Arts and Crafts style, by Tim and Mike Riordan. Tim and Mike were brothers who married sisters (Caroline and Elizabeth Metz) and apparently they all got along very well because they decided to build their homes side by side with a common gathering room connecting the middle. The home was donated by the Riordan posterity and is now a state historic park. We love going there and taking a walk into history. It's fun to see how people lived in 1904, especially rich people who had all of the modern conveniences of the time. It's also interesting to see the birth of the Arts and Crafts style of architecture.
Our tour guide is an avid historian so she was fascinating to listen too. One thing she shared that really struck me was that the wives in the Riordan family don't have much written about them. They didn't keep journals so there is no way to learn what they were thinking, feeling and experiencing at the time. Our guide said it is very frustrating to her as a historian because she so badly wants to study and learn more about them.
So I had an Ah-ha moment of the importance of keeping journals. I think of all of the history that I have already lost, cute things my kids have said and done, places we've gone, people we've met, thoughts and feelings, lessons learned along the way. Priceless treasures lost forever because I didn't take the time to write them down. I'm going to try to do better because when I fade into history I want my posterity to know all about this fascinating life experience that I've been blessed with. I love this life.
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And another thing I love is teaching. I got to teach the Mia maids at church today and I always experience a euphoric high that lasts all day when I get to teach and testify of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and their fabulous plan for us. It also helps that I am so in love with our young women. They are an amazing group of girls!