A little Blue Book

I was just thinking as I sat here on my computer listening to some music that took me back in time to my teenage days and wanted to share a story. It is funny to say that because sometimes it is hard to believe that I am an adult on the verge of turning 26. I still feel like I am that same young girl, but I guess even my great Grandma Mary who is about to have here 100th Birthday in January still feels like she is a young woman. Grandma Mary used to tell us a poem about how she was young and strong and it was only her body that has worn.
I wish I could remember it. Than again I wish I could remember a lot of things my Grandma Mary shared with us. She knew so many poems and songs. In my personal regret I am tyring to resolve to record more about my own life. Which is why I wanted to share this story.
When I was 16 I used to help my Grandma Dixie with things around her house that she couldn't do herself. It always bothered me that Alex Immoos, who lived with my grandma and grandpa at the time never did much to help. Well this particular day I was helping my grandma clean out her attic. Her attic was upstairs through a little door that was almost camouflage in the wall, as it was the same rough wooden texture as the wall. When I was a kid I was always afraid to go through the attic door because I thought something scary would be on the other side. I had opened it once when I was very small and remember it being dark with no real floor. Just rafters and instillation with a few pieces of ply wood layed across the rafters. It had a distinct musty and dusty smell to it too.
Well as a 16 year old it was not as scary as I remembered it being, but I still was a little disturbed by my uncle Steven's art work that was hanging up in a small room you walk through before you get to the attic itself. Well in the long process of cleaning out the attic my Grandma Dixie was determined to clutter and throw things out or give them away, so I had first pick on what ever she threw out. I don't think I was ever interested in much of anything.
Then as I was clearing off some book shelves that were in the tiny room with my uncles art work. My Grandma Dixie came in and told me to throw away all the books on the bottom shelf. Then she busily left me to do the job. I noticed that there were a few small books on that shelf among the others, so for some reason I decided to just pull one out and have a look at it before I threw them away. I Pulled out a little blue book that I think I was drawn to because of its size. When I got a better look at it I was intrigued to look at it closer because it appeared to be an old and well worn little book. The cover was hard to read because it was warped,and molded by water or something at one point, but I managed to read the title that said, Golden Nuggets of Thought. I opened the book and as I did it was so old and rotted that the pages fell apart as I turned them. I tried to be so careful with the book as it was so fragile. One of the first things I noticed when I had opened the book was that it once belonged to my great grandpa James C. Almond. It said his name right on the first page and it was given to him by a man named Lester Jones in Oct-21-1945. I never knew my Grandpa Almond because he died long before I was ever born. I stared to read the content of the book to see what kind of a book it was that my Great Grandpa Almond had kept for so long and then was handed down to eventually end up in my Grandma Dixie's attic. I noticed that it was a quote book that was in alphabetical order by topic,so the first few quotes I read were about Adversity. The book had quotes from well known authors and speakers as well as scriptures from the all the standard works. I remember thinking that it must be an LSD book since it contained passages from the book of Mormon and the D&C. To give an example of the few quotes I read on Charity,Enthusiasm, and Faith here are three.


" We should be lenient in our judgement, because often the mistakes of others would have been ours had we the opportunity to make them." -DR. Alsaker

"You can not kindle a fire in any other heart until it is burning in your own."

"No man is to be pitied except the one whose future lies behind him, in other words- the man who has lost faith in himself and is sinking because he refuses to swim."


With just a few cherished quotes read I decided to keep the book rather than throw it away so I slipped it into my overalls pocket and thought that maybe i would look at the other small books that were beside this one. I had hardly done so when my grandma Dixie cam back in and saw the things I was looking at and said oh I guess I don't want to throw those away lets put them here. In my mind I thought that my grandma Dixie might want the book, but I kept it anyway because I wanted to read it and I knew that I would use it, rather than having it collect more dust in the mountain of other books that my grandma owned. I felt a tag guilty that I never told her I had the book, but I have always been very glad that I took the book because with any spare time I had I read that book.
I loved the quotes I found because they inspired greater thought and resolve to do and become a better person. I read the quotes so often and found so many situations where they applied that I had many of them memorized. I was a good friend to a lot of youth in our ward and I found myself spouting off the words of the wise quite often should questions, problems or discouragement arise in any of my conversations. When I first had the book I remember a time when I found myself really feeling down and discouraged. I had the book in my car and I picked it up and searched through the quotes. I read things that instantly buoyed me up and gave me a better out look on my situation. It is hard to believe that I have had the book for almost 10 years now. I Was thinking that I wanted to give the book back to my Grandma Dixie and confess my story to her. Perhaps when I go home for my great gradma Marys 100th birthday I will have the chance to do so. I would just like to echo the words given in the Doctrine and Covenants section 109:7 "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning Even by study and also by faith." Nothing is so enriching and so enlightening as a good book. I really believe that the little blue book was meant to find a way to my hands. I am glad that it did. Along with other books I cherish such as the Bible,the Book Of Mormon and the other standard works.