So many untold stories...

Dear Diary,

When my cousin gave me my father's wartime letters last December I was overcome with emotion.  To see his handwriting, to read his thoughts about what was happening in Europe was very moving.  My aunt cherished these letters and now I do too.  They tell a small part of his story that, for me, was incomplete.

Then, when my Smithsonian magazine arrived, I was given another gift.  There was an article about a WWII veteran, Ray Halliburton.  I was astonished to read that he actually served in the same company as my dad...K Company, Third Battalion, Tenth Infantry Regiment, Fifth Infantry "Red Diamond" Division in Patton's Third Army.   They didn't arrive in France at the same time but they ended up together until Ray was captured.  How I wish I could sit down with this man and hear the stories of their time in France.

Our lives are great books that we live chapter by chapter.  Some are thicker than others but if we do not take the time to actually write down what happens the book we pass on to our descendants will be blank...the stories left untold.  I've felt this most profoundly as I've worked on the family chronicle.  Perhaps people think that their lives are not interesting enough to record but they would be so wrong.  History happens every day in our most ordinary lives and the stories should not be left untold...they matter.

Update:  The cousin who gave me these letters just emailed that today is my aunt's - her mother's - birthday!   I'd completely forgotten. Now, some would say this is a "coincidence" but I will use a friend's term, a "Godincidence"!  Anyway, I am delighted...Happy Birthday Auntie Doris!