The Funeral
Sailor’s Grandpa really knew what he was doing when he passed away. He got up that morning, cleaned the house, went for a walk, had lunch with his wife at work, came home, sat on his back porch in his favorite chair to rest and listen to the stream go by. And then he was gone. Lovely.
The funeral was also lovely. It was a wonderful opportunity to see family we haven’t seen for years, to say goodbye to Sailor’s Grandpa, and to learn things about him that we’d never known. We were all surprised to find out from the obituary that he was half Navajo and half Cherokee native American! Sailor made sure to learn some Navajo for his speech in spite of the fact that the newspaper had printed the right photo but had messed up everything else including his middle name.
The Book
After all the family activities were over I got busy reading Swiss Family Robinson for the discussion I lead for the overnight retreat I went to on Friday. I started reading on Wednesday and miraculously got through almost all 450 pages in time. Except for the couple chapters I skipped to to find out how it ended.
If you’ve ever read it you’ll know that I didn’t miss much because it is very repetitive. The whole book is just small stories about serving God, working hard, trapping/training/killing animals and how to use every single thing on the planet to survive in comfort and build really cool stuff.
It was a great book. If I had started it earlier I would have read it to my kids but they got to hear the first chapter tonight. The language is tough but I like to choose read-alouds that are above their reading level and they really enjoyed it.
The entire retreat was fabulous: the book discussion, the speakers, the simulation, the people, the camp, everything. I learned so much. It was just one of those perfect memories. I spent a few minutes early Saturday morning taking pictures because early morning is supposed to have the best light.
I think I concur.
The Simulation
“As you turned on the radio this morning, you and your children are warned that a bizarre adult-eating bacterium is about to hit the entire world. You personally have one year to live and have the task of teaching your children everything you think they will need to know to carry on life and society without any adults. What will you teach them and how? “
Homeschool types like to do these simulations to get everyone thinking and it certainly does work. What would you do in the above circumstance? Spend more time together as a family? Read more to your children? Teach them everything you know? We broke off into groups to discuss it. Here is what I concluded.
I wouldn’t change a thing.
I live life knowing that I have precious few years to teach my children what they need to know to survive in this world without me so instead of learning about television and video games they are learning trivial things like how to cook and clean and educate and take care of themselves but I really only mean to teach them one thing…to love God and to learn how to communicate with Him so they can serve Him.
With God all things are possible.
The end.
Woman’s Conference
I started feeling sick on the way home from the retreat but I convinced myself it was nothing and left right away to go to my church’s annual General Relief Society meeting as planned even though something told me not to go.
After I scrubbed two toilets inside and out that is. I don’t usually get the urge to clean toilets so when it strikes I go for it. To make a long story short I’ll tell it in bullet points like I like to do. I’m only writing this for my own information so please don’t read it. Seriously. Go do something worthwhile with your precious time.
- Something also told me not to take my camera that I always take everywhere.
- I took it anyway.
- I really need to learn to listen to that something.
- Five of us drove down together,
- Waited in line to go through security,
- Got through security only to be told that I had to go back out, walk to the other side of the huge center to have my camera “checked” at who knows where and then walk back to stand in line again.
- A little old security man rescued me and told them he would take care of me. He escorted me five miles through the building, up and down elevators, through security checks, around thousands of people and back to my friend only to be taken back to the OTHER side of the conference center once again to where they were actually seated.
- We were a bit rushed getting in the building in time to get seated so I only had time to snap this one hurried shot and to ask the person standing in front of us to take one of our group. Both terrible pictures.
- Not a single picture of the beautiful flowers or the sea of women crossing the street to get to the conference.
- All that trouble for nothing.
- Did I mention that something also told me to wear flats but I decided to wear heals instead?
- There’s that listening thing again.
- The plan is to learn it myself so I can teach it to my kids.
- Did I mention that the Conference Center is huge? It seats 21,000 people under one roof!
- Did I mention that it was 6:00 p.m. by this time and I had never had lunch but had quickly made a green smoothie as I had walked out the door?
- A green smoothie doesn’t really cut it when you are sick and starving.
- The conference was inspirational.
- “Never suppress a generous thought.”
- Beautiful advice.
- On our way home by 8:00 and everyone stopped so I could buy a salad. It had chicken and bacon AND cheese on it but when you are about to perish you just don’t care. I even forgot for a moment that I don’t like honey mustard dressing.
- That’s when I realized my green smoothie had spilled in someone else’s car because apparently I’m an idiot and didn’t screw the lid on tight enough.
- I figured it out when I put my bag on my lap to find my money and got slimmed.
- All over.
- Not that that was bad.
- Bad is going home to relax for a minute but your nine year old wakes up barking like a seal.
- Steam shower.
- Sleep.
- Steam shower again.
- Finally make it through the night.
- The 11 year old begs to go to Church anyway.
- I thought about leaving Persistence behind and taking everyone else.
- Something told me to stay home.
- Drop Muscles off with Lovely because she might die if she doesn’t go to Primary and get her “monkey” snacks. That’s why we go to Church isn’t it?
- Feed baby Sweetness a bowl of oatmeal.
- So she can immediately throw it up on the only square of carpet in the whole house.
- Feel grateful that I finally listened.
- Even though I missed a friend’s baby blessing.
- Stay home and hold the sick baby in between diaper changes.
- At one point I set her on my chair to get something and when I came back she hadn’t moved an inch.
- She couldn’t even lift her head up.
- Luckily she was feeling a lot better by the end of the day.
- And that’s life.
I wouldn’t change a thing.