Diary of a Nosy Kid: 8 year-old Perspective

Since I got married 2 months, 8 days, and 8 hours, and 31 minutes ago (who's counting?), I've had the chance to go through some old boxes at Mom's.  I was delighted to find this, a gem that had been lost for years:

Mom and I stayed up late cracking up at the entries in my VERY FIRST JOURNAL ever, the summer I turned eight years old. It was technically a school assignment: our third grade teacher-to-be read journals we wrote before school started so she could have an idea where our literature skills were. (Hence the red pen notes throughout the journal.)

Most people would describe my childhood personality as Inquisitive, so I chose "Diary of a Nosy Kid" for this series. As a "sophisticated", know-it-all eight year-old, I had a pretty good grasp on grammar, but I had some interesting ideas about stuff! Like this:

"Today is my birthday! I loved all the presents! When it was eight-thirty (the time I turned eight,) I didn't feel anything."

So apparently, when you hit the exact minute of the anniversary of your birth on your birthday, you're supposed to feel "something." I was incredibly disappointed that I didn't feel a magical transformation of my body clicking from 7 to 8 years old.

I expressed similar disappointment again in my next entry, two days later, when I was baptized:

"Also, yesterday, I got baptized! When I was under water, it felt like I was under pool water and I didn't feel anything. My sins were washed away and afterwards I got the gift of the holy ghost."

Apparently, I expected to feel something magical when I was underwater, too! I guess when we are eight years-old we haven't quite developed our sensitivity to spiritual matters, but we do understand enough to know why we choose to make big decisions like get baptized. I'm sure glad I made that choice 16 years ago, and even more grateful that I recorded it.