Dear Errolyn, Clara...and all granddaughters who are going to turn 16 soon,
I found my journals from my Young Women's years. There was one for each age to record achievements for our awards. I turned to the back page of my 16-year-old journal and found what I had written under the title: "My hopes and dreams for the FUTURE." I thought you might find it interesting what was important to me back when I was your age.
All my life I had goals that had been planted in my heart and were directed in my patriarchal blessing. Here is what I wrote (minus the 'check', that I have since added.)
"1) I plan to be married in the temple in the beginning...(check)
2) and have a marriage that will last eternally...(hopefully, check)
3) I will have as many children as I can or is economically feasible (check...only change
'economically' to 'emotionally/physically')
4) My husband will be intelligent (more so than me)...(check)
5) and will love and cherish the gospel as much as I do...(check)
6) I will have graduated from BYU...(check)
7) and somehow, some way I will be teaching children...(check)
8) including my own...(check)
I could die happy now, that all my dreams have come true. Life did not make any of them easy, but because they were important to me then, they served as an important pathway for my life.
If you have not received your Patriarchal Blessing by now, prayerfully consider it soon; you will need it through your high school years to keep you grounded and help make decisions regarding your future. Also, write down your hopes and dreams that are truly important. I say truly important, because I wanted a husband who could dance, but it wasn't important in the long run.
If you have goals, you can always get back to where you need to be even when life and life's mistakes lead you off the Covenant Path. If you have goals, you will always return through repentance and desire.
I love you very much. You come from long line of righteous ancestors. You have the faithful, believing, nurturing blood flowing in your veins. You are truly a daughter of your Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. You have their spiritual genetic makeup. "Be loyal to the royal within you."
Love,
Grandma Wideman
