Friday, 21 July 1989 1:20 A

I heard the most wonderful thing today! I had got home from babysitting a little before midnight, but what I’m talking about happened just before I went babysitting. It was just a few minutes to six P.M. and I was sitting in the living room talking with Barbara and Sarah. Then Barbara said something terrific; she said I was going to be an aunt again. I’m very happy about it! For some reason I had been thinking about that the last couple of days, too. Just a day or 2 before I was thinking how this would be the time to have a 2nd kid & I was wondering if they would soon. So I was a little bit expecting it. Even more amazing was I remembered a dream I had had when Sarah was a tiny baby. I dreamed that Barbara & Bob had 2 kids; a little girl about 2 or 3 and a baby boy. Much more recently – just the other night – I’d dreamed I was babysitting just next door and I had to go home for something. I took the older child – a girl of about 3 – and left the baby just learning to walk there, thinking I’d be right back. Now, in real life, I wouldn’t dream of leaving a child in the house by itself. Back to the dream; when I got back to the house, there was smoke coming out of the bottom of the door. An immediate & terrifying fear shot threw me. In the few seconds it took me to get to the door & into the house, I imagined several terrible things that could’ve happened. As it turns out, the baby was fine; the smoke was caused by something in the oven which was rapidly becoming well-done. Realizing the potential danger of leaving a toddler and a hot oven together alone made for more terrifying thoughts. Anyway, it was just a dream so no harm done.

1:46 A

Now I’m going to sleep so maybe I can catch Ed Grimley’s Completely Mental Misadventures “I must say.” Good Night! (Talk about sloppy writing!)

 

29 February 1989

Today I woke up before the sun did, so I snuck up to it & threw a water balloon at it. It took all day for that spot to dry & so we had a small eclipse. I then went for a walk through our chocolate orchard. The trees are just blooming w/raisinettes & malted milk balls. I picked a few down & put them in a buttercup. Then I walked to the Milky River & made some chocolate milk. I decided fresh bread pudding would taste good about now, so I walked to the bakery and they paid me 50¢ to eat it. I decided to take a nap, so I went to the dream store & rented one about me being a movie star. When I woke up, I took a walk through town. I met a teacher & she told me I better go home because school would start soon & I wouldn’t want my mom to think I went, as she’d disapprove.

– This day does not exist this year. It is imaginary.

7 January 1989

Yesterday was a lot of fun. At the party was Ashley & Eddie Ozmet (of course), Brad Olsen, Rick, Angie & I, Kimmy Something, and Judy (Ashley’s cousin). Rick & Ashley are going together and so are Judy & Brad. We played Scruples, watched Nightmare On Elm Street (part 3): Dream Warriors, played Foose (?) Ball & pool, and we played Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo. School starts in 2 days and I have a late English project to finish if I want a low B. I’m hoping for a blizzard so school’ll be closed. I’ve always wanted a Daily Diary. Before I wrote in school journals. For awhile I wrote Dear Jack letters to my brother, but I never mailed them. I wrote about 30 pgs.

 

15 October 1986

“My Question”

As a catholic, I believe people really do go to either heaven or hell, or maybe a place in between like purgatory. But one question I would like to have answered is What is it like to actually die? Is there a moment between life on earth and eternal life? If so, is it just a moment of lifelessness, when there aren’t any emotions, thoughts, or dreams? These are questions I don’t think will ever be answered until it is experienced personally. These are questions that make people afraid of death.

3 October 1986

“My Dream Vacation”

My dream vacation is my whole family flying down to California without quarreling. It would be spring and flowers would just begin to bloom. We would go swimming in the big ocean during the day and lie on the beach smelling the “sea air” during the evening. There would be palm trees, olive trees, orange trees, poinsettias, and other new sights. We would learn different customs Californians have. Who knows; we may even get nice tans.

 

23 May 1986

Graduation Speech

For the past few weeks, as we have been preparing for our graduation from St. Bart’s, we have been looking back on some good times that we’ve shared through the years. We remember when we first came to St. Bart’s as frightened first-graders and Mrs. Weisner helped calm our fears with her kindness. We remember the excitement of second grade as Mrs. Wagner helped us prepare for the sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time. We remember the love and tenderness of Mrs. Peterson and, although we were sorry to see her leave, in the middle of the year, Mrs Valla made us feel at ease with the sudden change. We remember the way Mrs. Schrader and Mrs Mick enlightened our days through fourth and fifth grade with their humor. We remember Mrs. Graven, not only as a teacher but as a friend. We will never forget how she humorously gave us tips on egging houses. For a Christmas present that year, we received Miss Monrovia, who accepted the challenge of teaching in a new environment in the middle of our sixth grade year. Perhaps Mrs. Green and Mr. Albertson have helped us the most to mature and prepare for high school. For all of our teachers and memories we are grateful.

This year’s graduating class of St. Bart’s School has chosen “Spread Your Wings: Let Your Dreams Soar” as its motto. We chose this motto in hopes that it will encourage us to expand our horizons and use our talents to the best of our abilities.

Today we are given a chance to spread our wings. We are given the chance to go on and truly let our dreams soar. But it doesn’t stop here. We must work to improve our talents every day and never stop dreaming. When I say “we”, I am not speaking just for the present eighth grade class of St. Bart’s School. I am speaking for everybody. You are never too young or too old. You can’t give up because, as you will see in our slide presentation tonight, the greatest love of all is learning to love yourself.

4 September 1985

The following things are all things which I value greatly in life: Mom, sisters, brothers, God, puppies, friends, Grandma, Father Bill, dreams, the promise of eternity in Heaven, cousins, privacy, freedom.

My prioritized list of 10 values is (in order):
1. God
2. the promise of eternity in Heaven
3. Mom
4. sisters
5. brothers
6. cousins
7. friends
8. Grandma
9. dreams
10. puppies

Why do I value the things listed so much? I value the things I have listed so much because everyday or night they are in my thoughts.

I value God most because He has done more for me than most people could imagine. My dad’s death has brought us extremely close. The promise of eternity in Heaven was given to my mom for our whole family by Jesus (which makes it important) through the gift of tongues (hard to believe, but true).

My sisters & brothers are important because I’ve lived and grown with them my whole life. My friends are important because they care about me and they’re people my own age I can talk to. My cousins have more value to me than my friends I decided because they are the ones that really care deeply about me and are never afraid to comfort me or give me a hug.

My grandma is important because I feel a part of me belongs to her and she understands more than people would think she would.

My dreams are like wonderful movies I see on T.V., except they’re free and don’t take up any valuable time. Stories have always fascinated me and the best thing about these stories are that I’m in them.

Last of all the puppies are important to me because I have had two dogs which I loved dearly get killed (which brought me closer already) and because puppies are my favorite types of pets. These puppies I have known since they were very little and mothered them right away since they came. Now they follow me like a parent.

 

6 September 1983

My Goals for this Quarter

This year I expect good grades because I am going to try hard, study in my room, and check over my work.

In math I expect As and Bs because it’s not too hard for me and I’m going to work extra hard on the decimals and dollar signs.

In social studies I expect Bs because I’m going to study hard and stop day-dreaming and watching television.

In science, I’m going to improve by helping and volunteering in experiments and things, so I expect Bs and maybe As.

In spelling, I’m going to make sure every word is memorized and studied. I expect to get As in spelling.

In Religion, one christian value I’m going to work on is controlling my temper. Instead of getting angry and start yelling at my brothers and sisters when ever they mess up my room or play in it, I’m going to sit down and ask them why they did it. They probably just do it because they want me to play with them. I expect around As and Bs.

Thank You.