Life in Our World

The first of the week

This past week I flew to St. George, Utah for my niece Eliza's wedding.  My brother and his family recently moved to Utah after living for many, many years in Alaska.  I haven't been around Lee and Krista's kids much so it has been really fun to be around them twice in the last three months -- once for Ty and Michelle's wedding and now for Eliza and Brad's.  

When Tate saw me at the motel he said something to the effect of, "Hey look!  It's that lady that is fun to play Werewolf with."  I'm honored.  Werewolf, witch.  Someday I may need those on a resume.

Lee is four years younger than me, but we were both included in the batch of "the little kids." (We had the "big kids" and the "little kids" in our family.  Did you?  I don't know what the middle children were called; they must have been forgotten.)  Lee's son Owen reminds me so much of him in looks and personality.  I love to watch him.  It's memory lane.  Owen is only missing glasses.  Lee is such a kind father and Owen is kind, too.

I have decided that weddings are sad.  People say they cry because they're happy at weddings, but not me.   I cry because nostalgia seeps out of me.  I cried seeing Brad and Eliza across the alter.  I cried watching Krista watch them. I cried watching the slide show.  I cried during the "I Held Her First" song, I cried watching Lee cry while he was dancing with Eliza.  Thank heavens I'm not a gully-washer cryer, I'm just a sprinkling cryer, but still . . . weddings are saaaaaad if you're prone to nostalgia crying.

But, I cried at Ryan and niece Haley's wedding, too, and that was four years ago and I'm perfectly happy when I'm with them now, so I do recover.  Haley was our chauffeur and Ryan was our bodyguard at the wedding.  They were attentive and fun and I was glad we got to spend time together.

I had the very unique experience of being the first person checked at the airport.  I was first in a race once, but can't remember any other firsts.  I waited here for my flight all by myself for several minutes.  Calvin would have been proud.  Much to the kids' vexation he likes to be two hours early for a flight . . . just in case.  I was plenty early and got several pages read while I waited.

The end of the week

A member of our ward congregation died.  His funeral was this week and Calvin was asked to cook the meat for the dinner after the funeral, while I was asked to play the organ for the funeral.  And since I didn't take a picture of either of us, I'll plug a picture of our bishop (right) and his first counselor (left) at the dinner in instead because it's a good one and they are good men.  The two songs I was to play were supposed to be played "with dignity" and "reverently".  Those two words describe our ward member that passed away.  For several years he couldn't even hear what was being said from the pulpit, but he sat in the center-front half of the chapel with a big smile during the entire meeting anyway.  He was just glad to be in church with his friends and fellow members.  He was a good example and it was nice to help lay him to rest.

Later that evening we celebrated friend Kathy's 50th birthday with a picnic at the park.  Kathy is in the hotel industry and she once told someone on the phone that we were sisters so that we could get a motel in New York for Abe's graduation.  I didn't want to put her in a compromising situation, but I did need her help with getting those tight reservations.  When she said that we were sisters, she mouthed to me, "We are.  You are my sister."  Sisters we are.  I have sat on her most comfortable couch with my feet on her ottoman and her cat crawling on my lap many, many times as I have visit taught her.  I love Kathy and it was fun that she would spend her day with so many of us.

Calvin and I closed the funeral and birthday party day by going to a wedding reception.  The bride and groom are both former students that met in my class.  It's been fun to be a part of their life through the years.

  
Today Calvin and I worked in our tired and neglected garden.  He weeded while I threw the overgrown squash down the canal bank, fed the flowered broccoli to the chickens, and picked the berries.  While Calvin sprayed weeds I made Huckleberry Bread.  Except I didn't have huckleberries, I had giant berries so I made Berry Bread.  The recipe calls for pineapple, but I didn't want to open a can of pineapple for just one cup so I added grated zucchini instead.  I believe Berry Zucchini bread is every bit as good as Huckleberry Bread.

This evening we're going to the rodeo which means I have to dig out my long pants.  Argh.  I don't think I've worn pants since May.  I do love summer shorts.

And that's our week in a nutshell.  What's new in your world?