Hall Of Fame

I LOVED my college years.  Okay, the first couple were a little rocky, but after I learned that "nobody has ever died from homesickness" (thank you dad) Utah State opened my life to so many friendships and fun times.  Many memories reside in the halls of Cobble Creek and Brook Lane Apartments.  They are all written in several journals, all of which I cringe at the thought of my children reading (nothing bad, just a tad bit on the dramatic side). 
Brook Lane and Cobble Creek made up the Utah State 34th ward, with Bishop Gill presiding.  When my three years as a member of the 34th ward came to a close, I was a little melancholy and recorded the following in my journal, "I think that we meet different people at different times in our lives for a reason, each one creating a little piece of the person we call ourselves.  My hope is that the next life will contain lots of reunions.  Meetings with these people you never thought you would see again.  You can thank them for the memories and more important the lessons they taught you.  It will be a time to celebrate in the final product of "you" and all the people that made you so spectacular."  I am hoping that the "spectacular" part comes to fruition someday before these reunions are to take place :) 
This week I was listening to a talk by Sterling W. Sill entitled, "Each Of You Has a Hall of Fame."  He begins his talk by telling of an experiment.  (I paraphrase, but do so with quotation marks) "Once a piece of silver and a piece of gold were put next to each other for a long period of time.  At the end of the allotted time the metals were separated.  However, during this period of time, molecules from each metal were transferred to the other...The gold had flecks of silver in it and the silver had flecks of gold in it."  The moral.....The character traits of the people we place ourselves next to, will "rub off" on us. 
Realizing this, Elder Sill literally created his own "Hall of Fame" by studying and extensively writing about more than 70 people that he wanted to influence his life in some way.  He then encouraged his audience to attempt the same task. 
The idea fascinates me, and I have vowed to undertake the same project.  I think I will start long before the Utah State 34th ward, perhaps about 20 years before...perhaps on Spruce street in Ashton, Idaho.  I think there were a few people there that hoped one day some of their own gold flecks would rub off on me.