Monday, September 24, 2007

Journal of My Life


I have been debating about doing this, but it's a nice way to share this. Some of you may not even know I have it!! This is a Grandma Vernie's life story. I will have to do a bunch of installments. -Mandi

"WHY AM I DOING THIS??? (A JOURNAL OF MY LIFE)

From time to time it has occurred to me that it would have been really nice if my grandparents had left a chronicle of events in their lives. It was special when we discovered that Walter's mother saved so many letters, written by members of her family dated more than one hundred years ago. After reading, and rereading those letters, one felt as though you knew the people who wrote them, and could visualize the trials and tribulations of that day, as well as the happy events. Well, perhaps some of the future descendents of this Heffner clan will wonder about the life's journey this one ancestor traveled. On the whole, up to now, the trip has been pretty smooth, and most will find it quite boring. As with all lives, there are parts I'd never want to live over, and some I'd give almost anything to repeat. Now that I'm in the 61st year of my life, the fact that astounds me is the number of insignificant, at the time, decisions one makes which alters the entire course of events that follow. In many cases, not just the lives of you, and your family, but other people sometimes. Occasionally, I hear someone refer to the past as "the good old days" probably because times were simpler. There's no question that each generation enters a world far more complicated, where every individual has to better prepare themselves for the challenges life brings. But, advances in medicine, technological advances, and progress in dozens of other fields more than makes up for that so-called simpler life. I'm sure if I could somehow get a peek at the world one hundred years from now I'd see far more improvements than regretful events. Oh, certainly, I worry about such things as over-population, for instance, because it may lead to wars. However, another world war seems unlikely since everyone knows the consequences of nuclear war for all of mankind.