Say hello to Mr. Angry eyes!

Drew is such a sweet little guy. With all his ALPS issues, he has more challenges than any almost four year old child should need to cope with. Last week, his platelets dropped, requiring a transfusion. Going back to preschool later in the week, he was self conscious of his bruises. That makes me feel so badly - both that he has to endure the illness and that he is concerned about being different.

However, he may have discovered a solution. Before story time at preschool, when everyone was quiet, he got in character as Mr Potato Head (from Toy Story 2) and shouted, "Say hello to Mr. Angry eyes!" Everybody was in hysterics, including the teachers. So if you have to laugh or cry, I'm with Drew. Let's have the laughing!

Adults say the darndest things

Art Linkletter used to have a television series with a segment entitled, "Kids say the darndest things" - but I'm thinking kids can't compare with adults.

At our marriage soiree, I talked to two of our ward members. One is a good friend and neighbor (and wife of our stake president). When I told her Chelle's news of monoamniotic twins, the concerned etched her face and then she finally said, "You just had it too easy when they were teenagers. We would look at your family during those years when everything was going perfectly and wonder, 'What are we doing wrong?'" I thought that was so interesting. Who knew she was secretly in awe of how well things appeared to be going. She has been so supportive over the years. When she learned of Kim's divorce, tears sprang to her eyes. When I told her about ALPS, she had to know exactly who had it and who didn't. She has been a good friend, truly one who mourns with those that mourn.

The other interesting comment was from an older sister in the ward. She said, "What is Greg doing?" I told her, but she clearly wanted to get to her message which was, "I have a 24 year old granddaughter who is single. Maybe we could set them up?" I thought that was so funny. She really doesn't even know Greg, but hey, he's single and she's single. Got to be a match made in heaven.

If you feed them, they will come.

We had a stake "Marriage Soiree". It has typically been a sit down dinner, a speaker, and then dancing. This year the dinner was replaced with "finger food". The attendance was HORRIBLE. I'll bet there weren't many more than a hundred there. From our ward, I could count six couples - and only two couples that weren't involved as stake leaders or on the committee. It was too bad, because the "finger food" was substantial enough to be a dinner - if you went through the line a few times. Chocolate covered strawberries, vegetables and dip, three bean salad, asparagus, mushrooms, fresh fruit, tiny pulled pork sandwiches. It was great!

My favorite part of the evening was a story teller (Suzanne Hudson) who portrayed Eliza R Snow, poetess and charismatic leader of women. She was the tenth wife of Joseph Smith (the love of her heart) and the eighth wife of Brigham Young. After Joseph Smith was martyred, she asked Brigham Young, "Who will be my champion?" He responded, "Eliza R Snow." While that isn't what she hoped to hear, I love the message. If you aren't your own champion, who will be?

The tradition continues

When the folks were alive, we would often gather at Maddox for dinner. It has been years since the folks could join us, but tonight we continued the tradition. Gary was here on a skiing trip for three days. Cherri made the three hour plus trek from Idaho in a blizzard. Craig and I (and spouses) filled out the table. Ashley represented the nieces and nephews. It was a great time. I'm sure mom and dad were looking down and craving that trout and the raspberry butter.

If it were fair, it wouldn't be a test

I was reading Lone Survivor (before I had to return it half read because of language). He talks about the various tests of endurance the SEALS were asked to endure in their training. In addition to physical stress, they were asked to endure emotional trials. One day there was a room check. One of the SEALS had spent hours getting his room perfect. When it came time for room check, he found that his room had been trashed. An instructor had sneaked through the window, trashed the room, and then exited - only to enter later and given him heck for having an uncleaned room. The explanation for doing such a thing was something like this: physical challenges are one thing, but what gets to you are the emotional ones. The very unfairness of the situation is what made it a particularly telling test. Could they endure unfairness and be able to get past it?

I have thought a lot about that. We do A, B, C and expect to get D. When we get Q instead, that is difficult to get our minds around.

Crying in WalMart

With cell phones, you can be absolutely anywhere when you get that phone call. Yesterday, I got one of those calls while I was in WalMart. The tears sprang to my eyes and coursed down my cheeks while I stood, glued in one spot in the produce department. Now, when I'm talking on the phone, I'm oblivious to everything around me. [When I had young kids, they took advantage of that fact. I'd often find them dancing on the table when I hung up the phone.] I decided I couldn't possibly decide whether to pay $2.78 for spinach while I was talking on the phone, and motioned for Steve to push the cart along. After my phone call ended, Steve pointed out the others who had seen my distress and been concerned. In WalMart of all places. Who would have guessed? I must say that I live in a pretty incredible place - with caring, supportive people - even in WalMart.

Day by Day

I love these thoughts...

Todd Christofferson writes, "In the 1950s my mother survived radical cancer surgery, but difficult as that was, the surgery was followed with dozens of painful radiation treatments in what would now be considered rather primitive medical conditions. She recalls that her mother taught her something during that time that has helped her ever since: “I was so sick and weak, and I said to her one day, ‘Oh, Mother, I can’t stand having 16 more of those treatments.’ She said, ‘Can you go today?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, honey, that’s all you have to do today.’ It has helped me many times when I remember to take one day or one thing at a time.”

Joseph McConkie states: As we venture out, we would like a ready source to tell us how to handle every difficult situation. But that is not the Lord’s system. It is not the design of heaven that we be rescued from all difficult situations. Rather, it is the Lord’s will that we learn to handle them. The sense of being overwhelmed is very much a part of the journey. The power with which God clothes us in His holy temples does not imply that our journey will be an easy one.

It's just not practical

When Mom used to take the kids shopping for their birthday, she never asked what I thought they should have. She only asked them. Lots of times they would come back with gifts that had no practical purpose. With all the things they could really use, it was hard to watch them come home with yet another knickknack. However, it gave me pause. I realized that gift giving, like most things I did, was drenched in practicality.

We went to Music Man this week. It was performed by a local community group. Two of our ward members were in it, but I didn't know that until I got there. It was quite enjoyable. Harold Hill was played by a young fellow whose family runs Pickleville Playhouse (T.J Davis). In reading his bio, I was struck by the fact that he had gone to dental school for a year, but because it wasn't "risky enough" he came back to a Northern Utah career in theatre. He was good, but, honestly, can anyone make a career in theatre in Northern Utah? Pickleville does well in the Summer, but summer is short at Bear Lake. I was impressed with the total lack of practicality of his plans, yet had to admire someone who throws caution to the wind and follows his dream.

Today two students came to me with a question. For over six months they have been trying to solve a problem that they thought up. It goes something like this. You have a paragraph with all the spaces and punctuation thrown out. You want to recreate the paragraph using only a dictionary of words. They kept talking about "It was the best of times the worst of times" being parsed as "I twas the best oft i me ..." They didn't want to use anything like sentence construction. They were excited with various forms of searching and backtracking that they had used. I gave them a few ideas for solving the problem and convinced them that any type of greedy scanning (looking for shortest word or longest word) wouldn't work in all cases, so they had to settle for finding the most likely candidates first. They seemed pleased with my suggestions and went on their way. I was plagued with the thought that they had spent six months working on a problem that no one else wanted the solution for (including me). Yet, I had to admire them for living the (albeit nerdy) dream.

Grandchildren are the love affair of old age

I'm reading a book by Reeve Lindbergh called "No More Words" about her mother's last months. She quotes her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, as saying, "Grandchildren are the love affair of old age." I love that - and echo those sentiments. What wonderful, amazing grandchildren I have.

At another point, Reeve says, "When I was grown and had my own daughter, and reveled in the ecstatic connection between me as nursing mother and my baby at my breast, my mother watched and us told me, "it is, of course, the only perfect human relationship."

A good friend loaned me the book, and had underlined her favorite passages. How fun to enjoy it doubly as I see what she loved as well.

What's New?

This has been a week of new experiences. Last night the Utah members of our family went to see Wynton Marsalis at Kingsberry Hall. We agreed to go because everyone else was going, and Brandon was so excited about it. When I heard one of Wynton Marsalis' albums where he sounded like an elephant, I was less that excited. HOWEVER, I really quite enjoyed the performance.

On Saturday, we went to a youth (ages 9-19) Shakespeare performance of MacBeth. Our friends, the Cutlers, had two of their kids in it and they had been very involved in making costumes. I was curious, "What kinds of kids want to do Shakespeare? What kind of adults think that is a good idea?" I don't even like Shakespeare, but I found the whole idea of kids memorizing such complicated lines fascinating. I really enjoyed seeing the kids get into their parts. It was fun!

Shocked Disbelief

I gave my RS lesson today - taken from Todd Christofferson's CES talk. There was one quote I added that I just love.

Ann Kidd Taylor ( with Sue Monk Kidd) (Traveling with Pomegranates) Right before I left on that college study tour to Greece, my boyfriend of four years, the one I thought I would marry, called and broke up with me. Out of nowhere.

“One day you’ll find someone and he’ll be the luckiest guy in the world,” he told me. I think he intended for this to make me feel better, but come on, the luckiest guy in the world and he didn’t want to be that guy. I sat on the blue sofa in the apartment in a state of shocked disbelief— what birds must feel after flying into windowpanes. That was followed by a period of pure heartache.


I loved that thought. It seems like I've been hitting a lot of windowpanes lately. Shocked disbelief is definitely the feeling.

Traveling with Greg

Traveling with Greg is like a step back in time – when all things were possible, life held nothing but grand alternatives, and energy level posed no barrier. Traveling with a sixty one year old man is cautious, measured, and predictable. Traveling with Greg is limitless. He studies the Lonely Planet guidebook and maps out the day. People stop him multiple times to ask directions. Of all the people on Roman streets, they pick him to query. Is it the confidence that he exudes? Is it his six foot five frame that gives him the edge over the rest of the crowd? Is it his clothing that speaks of comfort with his surroundings? Is it his travel bag slung over his shoulder or the map committed to memory that evokes trust?

As we look for a deli with authentic Italian food, Greg studies the menu not just the food in the window. He concludes, “Too much of a tourist trap. A real Italian restaurant wouldn’t serve egg drop soup.” We settle on an incredible restaurant at a fraction of the 70 Euro price we see at many sites. When interacting with the waiter, he never misses the meaning despite the thick accent.

He travels like a seasoned tourist – devouring multiple plates of food at the all you can eat breakfast at the hotel, pocketing the packaged toast and Nutella for a snack, and filling his own water bottle (rather than paying upwards of five dollars a bottle for ‘water without gas’ available on the streets).

Having read the guidebook, he is able to give insight on whatever you are viewing – from the concrete used in the Pantheon to the reasons for the caverns under the Colosseum. He is a delightful traveling companion. How lucky I am that he volunteered to come along.