Monday Memories--Ande

The only thing Ande loved more than play-dough was dressing up

Ande loved play-dough when she was a little girl. She had been begging to make some for several days, but each time I successfully distracted her. One morning in yet another attempt to avoid making play-dough, I said we’d make some right after her chores, knowing full-well we were low on salt, probably too low, which would successfully delay it another day. But, I wouldn’t tell her no, the absence of salt would tell her. Ande hurried and did her morning chores and then I sent her to the storage room in the basement to look for salt. She was gone a very, very long time. She slowly came back upstairs and into the kitchen and said, “No salt. I guess we can’t make it.”

While she was searching in the basement, I had a change of heart. I felt guilty I’d kept putting her off. I felt badly I’d sent her on a goose-chase to find the no-salt that was not in the basement. I thought if we emptied all the salt shakers in the house we could come up with enough salt for one batch and decided to tell her so when she finally came up from the basement.

After Ande came back into the kitchen and sadly said we wouldn’t be able to make play-dough because she couldn’t find salt, I suggested emptying the salt shakers. She sat up on the counter and quickly got to work. Pretty soon she said, “When I was downstairs looking for the salt I said a prayer that I could find some.” She paused, “I looked and looked and looked, but there wasn’t any so I told Him it was okay, I knew He was too busy answering other peoples prayers today.”

I very undeservingly received a hug and said, “But He did answer your prayers! He helped me think about the salt shakers so that you could empty them and we’d have enough. He did hear your prayers.”

This last weekend was Mother’s Week at the college Ande attends and I got to make more memories with her. We had a grand, grand time.

Cali and I drove down to see Ande with two friends, Kathy and Viki. Riding with Kathy is an abs workout. The woman laughs, sincerely, at everything. It’s no courtesy laugh; it is hard guffaws that bring tears to her eyes. She said she giggled her way through high school and I do not doubt her. Viki is well-read and a great conversationalist. She knows a lot about many things. After twenty-one hours together in a car, we had not exhausted our reservoir of topics.

Jim Stones, The Brain and Literacy presenter, and his wife, Judy

On Thursday evening and all-day Friday we attended a conference on how the brain works and its connection to literacy. It was outstanding. I forgot how reenergizing it is to be on a college campus learning new things. Not only was it stimulating, but it was wonderful to be in Ande’s world and see her maneuver it so capably. Seeing her at work and her latest art projects, watching her interact with peers and instructors, going to events with her or listening to her ideas--it was all rewarding and exciting.

Ande tending the art cupboards—a job that lends itself perfectly to homework

We stayed with my sister, Marcia. Several of my sisters have a real gift for being gracious hostesses and Marcia is one of them. Staying with her is like staying at a resort—her towels are thick and plush, her soap smells divine, her sheets don’t have fuzzies and there is always plenty of fun food available (it was the first time I’d tasted Great Harvest bread and now I understand the craze).

Ande, Levi, Rachel (my niece), Cali and me in front of Cold Stone

While I was with Ande this weekend we also went shopping (at the college bookstore, DownEast Clothing, and a great craft store); ate at Backyard Burgers where the inside walls are vinyl siding and the bathrooms are in the shed (they serve homemade french fries with fry sauce) and topped the meal off with Cold Stone ice cream; attended two very entertaining college performances: Comic Frenzy and The Best of Dance; and played a fun game of Life Stories.

One final thing that added to the greatness of the weekend was going to the temple. Forever memories, indeed.