Reconstruction days all over again

My Grandmother and Grandfather Bell were born in the mid-1850s. It boggles my mind to think that Abraham Lincoln was their president for a number of years. It's like looking backward through some telescope.

Both, born in Virginia, may have had parents who were Southern sympathizers, but I'm not sure about that.

Given their birthdates and the fact that after marriage and several children were born, they came to Missouri in the early 1880s, we know that they lived in Virginia during the Reconstruction days after the War Between the States. From my birth and for 17 years thereafter, these grandparents were a part of our household.

Did they ever speak of those difficult days after the war or did we ever have the sense to ask them? No. Such a lost opportunity for me to have had a firsthand account of their experiences.

That is why I have been on a crusade for many years to get folks to keep a daily journal of the happenings in their lives between dawn and dusk. Oh, some memorable dreams or nightmares could be included as well.

Now that, on our watch, we are living through reconstruction days of an altogether different kind and probably harder, we should keep a record for our grandchildren, whether they want it or not. Who knows, some of your accounts may make it into the historical record.

Such daily entrants need not be elaborate. Just a record such as:

"Today, Dan Rather broke down, tearfully, as he reported the news.

"Traffic by our house has changed as a result of street construction.

"Must remind the mail carrier to shut the lid on my mailbox tight.

"The Taliban in Afghanistan give us all headaches and heartaches.

"What does 'stan' mean in that conglomeration of Middle Eastern states? Comparable, I guess, to our village endings of 'ville' and 'ton.'"

Write of your joys and sorrows, disappointments and victories -- whatever.

Start today.

REJOICE!

Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime resident of Cape Girardeau.