12 Years Ago

"At 11:00 am today a big group of us took a boat ride on the Thames in 70 degree weather. We passed many famous sites: St. Paul's, Tower of London, and Sir Christopher Wren's Fire Monument. I learned that the Thames is 215 miles long with a 17 to 26 foot rise and fall each day--wow. Our journey ended in Greenwich--home of the Prime Meridian. While at the National Maritime Museum the digital clock there read:

Year: 1998 Days: 262 Hours: 14 Minutes: 31 Seconds: 20

It was so cool there--the Royal Observatory is on a hill in the pretty, lush Greenwich park and it overlooks the Thames as well as the gorgeous Royal Naval Academy. Architecturally it is stunning..."

--from a journal entry dated September 19th, 1998

Gathering up my essential documents and treasured books and albums the other night, my London journal joined the ranks. And I have been rereading it the past few days when I grab a free moment eating lunch or while the kids are asleep. Such an amazing time of my life and I am so happy I became a religious journal writer during it, capturing each experience, day trip, morning run, museum visit, random event, cute boy (I mention these often :) and night out during the entire semester. I wrote almost every single day and always had a ton to say.

My cousin is living there right now--at the same old (perfectly situated) BYU Centre that I lived in all those years ago. Reading her blog brings it all back to me. Good memories to think back on for sure...and man, was I young! I am laughing at so many of my entries and how, well, naive and immature I was. Maybe we all were at 19 years old but I for sure thought I was quite grown-up and cultured for my age. Such fun...