I have spent a lot of time lately...

....thinking about where I came from, why I am here and where I want to go.




Do those phrases ring a bell?  The questions that all of mankind asks themselves at one point or another.




We celebrate two special birthdays this week.  Sam turned 4 years old last weekend and Amelia turns 2 today.




They are at the beginning of their book of life with many chapters yet to be written, their stories yet to be told.  As I watch my mother writing the final chapter to her life, I marvel at all she has done and I wonder what Sam and Amelia Jo's books will say about them when they get to their jumping off point.






I hope Sammie's childhood chapter will talk about how her mother moved all the furniture in the living room and decorated "Fancy Nancy" style just so she could have an exquisite 4th birthday party.  I wonder, will she write about how much effort it took her mother just to get up every morning and how courageous she was?  I hope one of her chapters will talk about how much she loves her mom, because she knows her mother loved her first.

I hope there will be a whole chapter about her great grandma and how she was her best friend, who was willing at a moments notice to host a tea party.  I know she will write about this woman, who gave her all she had, especially her heart.

I wonder, will she write about Grandma Kaylee who thought she was an awesome Tigger and loved to bake pies with her?

...my granddaughter's stories will have laughter and fun, sprinkled with occasional tears, because, like all good stories, there has to be the occasional lesson learned.  

Will our sweet Millie write a chapter about her dad, who is her hero?  Will she write about how she would run into his open arms at the end of the day and then rub noses with him as he lifted her into the air?  I know she will write about her mom, how she influenced her life for good, because everyone in our family knows Erin is the kindest of us all.

...will she write with fondness how Grandma Kaylee would read her a story at the end of her visits?  Will she remember how I loved looking in those big brown eyes and listening to her cute little giggle?





There will be chapters about aunts, uncles and cousins...


...about how Uncle Caleb was so tall you could touch heaven from his shoulders and how Aunt Aubrey was always there and always cheering them on. 


...and Sam can write about cousin Porter calling to wish her a happy birthday, because they know how much we want them to be a part of everyday life.

These little girls are starting out a lot alike, with families strongly rooted in the plan of the gospel and with parents who are devoted to them. Their chapters will probably all have the same titles, Childhood, Teenage Years, Marriage, Children, and so on, but hopefully they will recognize sooner than later that they are the authors of their own life's book and they can write the life they want.

Their chapters may all have the same headings...

...and they will fill in the rest...

...but the most important part is the end...

...and they all lived together happily ever after.