Me again

Well, Adam is kind.  Maybe he should speak at my funeral.  Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon, that's just the type of thing one would want at their funeral I would think.

(Also, I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for Adam.  He's picked up all the slack I've let go.  He has been preparing meals and helping me with school stuff and reassuring me and ordering diabetic supplies and being exactly the kind of husband I need.)

My life has been upended but in happy ways.  I am loving teaching.  Also I feel like I'm on a treadmill that is a little too fast or I'm juggling fire and someone handed me a puppy to hold, stuff like that.  It's been quite a week.  I've been working 10-11 hour days and I vaguely remember what my children look like.

I'm looking forward to a long weekend and I'm hoping to reconnect with my home life a little.  (Also, I'm going to probably spend a few hours at school...)

I'm trying to play catch up to all the things most teachers do in the summer and I'm trying to wrap my mind around the curriculum and schedule.  The standing in front of the class and teaching them part is what makes the rest worthwhile.

I have the cutest kids in the school.  They are funny and shy and chatty and affectionate and anxious and bright and naughty and angry and creative and have low impulse control and I love them all.  It's easier in a lot of ways to be a teacher after being a mother.  I have more context for why they're acting the way they're acting.  I'm more confident to just give them a flat out no to some of their requests and they accept it.

I'm abandoning the complicated classroom management clip chart one of the other teachers shared with me.  I've never loved clip charts because you have to stop what you're doing and have the students clip up or down.  It's much more efficient to just tell a student to settle down and move on.  So far that's been enough.

My students come to the classroom outside door in the morning and I love opening the door and seeing their upturned expectant faces.  Come on in!  When they leave in the afternoon, a few of them throw their arms around me and one student, who has angry outbursts on the daily, told me he loves me the other day.

I feel like a lucky girl.

(I will feel even luckier when I figure out how to not stay at the school for 10-11 hours a day.)

Grateful Friday

Thelma may remove my administrator access for posting on her blog, but I’ll take the risk. Because today I went to her blog as I normally do mid-morning only to find that she still hasn’t posted since Tuesday.

Can you blame her? She has had to fit a summer’s worth of preparation into a precious few days. Even I know that equation doesn’t balance out.  Time < Things

(I must have inequalities on my brain. Thelma asked me to help her grade assignments last night. The students were presented with two numbers and had to determine whether to use the less than, greater than, or equals sign. Which is greater? 691 or 961? I’m not sure if the assignment was checking for math skills or dyslexia. A few of the questions were cruel like that.)

The stress, to-do lists, sleep, worries, bureaucratic rigamarole… That’s all going to come and go. But one thing that will be constant is how much Thelma loves to teach children. She came home from school on Wednesday after her first full day teaching her new class with a giant smile on her face and light all about her.

Teaching is Thelma’s gift, calling, and joy. All of us have all three, although not everyone understands their gifts, accepts their calling, or finds joy in their work. But when all three come together in someone, it’s a brilliant thing to watch.

So, on my Grateful Friday, I’m grateful I get to bask in the glow of someone who loves and gives so willingly to bless the lives of other people. I’m grateful that I’m in Mrs. Davis’s class and that for me, at least, school will never be out.

Ready or not

Tomorrow is the big day!  My class starts.

Today I introduced myself to them and they moved their desks into my room.  Some of the kids were straight up excited, some were stressed out, some didn't seem to care either way and one girl cried.  I get it.  It's a lot.

In a purely unsustainable manner, I've been working 10+ hour days and I think (hope) I'm ready.

Here are some pictures of my classroom--although I took these pictures before I got all the desks.

Front of the classroom:

Back of the classroom:

I've gotten rid of the baskets of books.  They are good to designate genre but they take up a lot of space.  I want more books and fewer baskets.

I brought along the lanterns from my old classroom and one of the girls said, "It's exactly the same as the art classroom."

I don't know.  Lanterns = exactly the same.

Emma made the poster for me.  The pink and black bulletin boards are going to have math and science and writing things we are currently working on.

It makes me happy.  I hope the students will find it a happy place as well.  (Especially the poor little one who cried.)

Tilt a whirl

We did a whirlwind trip to Nevada for dear Liberty's mission farewell.  Jennifer told me my blog post last Friday had been a cliff hanger.  I didn't mean for it to be a cliff hanger.  I don't think I took the time or had the brain capacity to be coherent.

Because things changed my friends.

On the first day of school for me, I found out that they were hiring a new third grade teacher.  I texted Adam during my lunch break and asked him to call me.  He did and said, "I have 90 seconds."

I asked him if I should apply and he said, "Yes."

I said, "Really?"  Because it seemed so crazy.

He said, "Do it.  It's want you want."

So I did.

I had an interview the next morning before school and was offered the job that afternoon.  I've been careening and breathless ever since.

I am super excited and super overwhelmed.  Mostly excited.

And tired.  Did I mention tired?  Because first I couldn't sleep because of the wedding.  Then there was the tiring trip to Virginia then there was the marathon of getting ready for school and now there is this.  My mind won't shut off and I am not sleeping.

I'm sure it won't last forever.  I'll either start sleeping or die.  Either way....

Anyway.

I went from a completely organized classroom that was all decorated how I wanted and a curriculum I'd worked all summer on to an airless musty room that sat idle all summer.  Things like desks and the smart board and pencil sharpener had been pilfered during the summer months and things like broken tables and boxes of miscellany and cast offs had been stashed there.

So I have had/still have my work cut out for me.  I take over a third grade class on Wednesday.  I told Emma I need to talk to my friend Nyla who is a 2nd grade teacher and say, "Tell me everything you know.  Go."

I was there all day Saturday.  My stalwart family joined me.  Tall boys to reach the tall stuff, artistic Emma to do the artistic Emma stuff and Adam to hold everything together and go get lunch and keep me from going insane (more insane?).

Also the two other third grade teachers and an angelic second grade teacher spent hours there on Saturday helping me.  They advised and laminated and hung bulletin boards and one of them brought her label maker and went to town.

There's a reason that I love that school.

I sort of have whiplash from this whole summer.  It's thrown me for several loops.  Here's the thing though:  sometimes the hardest summer of your life ends in your dream job.

I don't know how that works, but I am pretty happy about it.  I am excited and stressed.

And tired. (Oh, I mentioned that?)

Grateful Friday

Well.

It's been quite a week.

I can't even begin to describe everything because there is too much and I don't have time.  Here's this though.  I'm extremely grateful.  I can see the hand of the Lord in my life.  I can see that things work out in miraculous ways even when you don't think they will.

1) I have loved my new job.

2) As of yesterday, I have a different job that I think I will love even more.

3) My head is about to explode.

I'll tell you more later.  I just want to write down that I am grateful.

Some of my favorites

We got the pictures from the temple back from the photographer.  (She took some reception ones too, but I haven't seen those yet.)

Here are some of my favorites:

The new Mr. and Mrs.

I love how many of my beautiful nieces are in this shot.

Carolina, Lili, Desi (and I think that's Liberty behind her) and Savannah

The WHOLE group at the temple:

The grandparents (including Stella as an honorary Grandma):

Anna's Grandma Carlson, Grandma Geri, my parents, Anna and Braeden, my Grandma Jaynes and Stella

 All our family at the temple:

back row: Whitney,Talia, Megan, Scott, Jackson, Desi, Savannah, Marianne, Carolina, Robert, Liliana, Liberty, Edgar, Olivia, Jennifer and Boston, Melanee and Ammon
front row:  Geri, Raelyn, Adam, me, Anna, Braeden, Mark, Emma, Grandma Dahl, Grandpa Dahl, Grandma Jaynes, Stella, Marcon and Ruben
the littles in the front: Azure, Omar, Cormac, Ammon and Lucette 

 I love this picture.  Owen was holding the veil for Anna and gave it a try.

Anna's parents:

Stella and the happy couple:

The boys and their socks:

My dearest people on the planet:

My favorite picture of all.  So lovely.

Two weeks later I feel all recovered from the action and grateful for the wonderful addition to our family.

I'm pretty sure this isn't normal

Does everyone become fast friends with the parents of the people their children marry?  Because that is what happened to us.

We love the Carlsons.  The whole family.  We spent a delightful few days with them in Charlottesville.  Amy fed us breakfast and we hung out visiting in their lovely home.  We went sightseeing around town.  We went to the University of Virginia and drove a bit on Skyline Drive which borders the Shenandoah National Park.  It is a beautiful (and humid) part of the world.

Amy and Natalie stayed home from the sightseeing to do some reception prep.  Mark Carlson, Braeden and Anna and Emma went in one car and Adam, Mark Davis, Owen and I went in the other. I loved hearing Mark and Owen talk as we drove.  They are a lot alike and talked about cars and schools.  We were going to make a stop for gas and drinks and Mark asked Owen if he was more a Coke or Pepsi guy.  Owen said, "Coke.  But my favorite is Dr. Pepper."

"That is the right answer!" Mark said.

He too is a Dr. Pepper man.

At UVA, we went into the rotunda Thomas Jefferson designed.  It was lovely.  Adam and Mark Carlson inspected photos and dived deep into how the building had been remodeled over the years.  They discussed at length and talked to the information desk and Braeden and Anna told me they were glad they could arrange this playdate for their dads.

We went back to their house for burgers and more visiting then we headed to the church to get ready for the reception.

Amy had made an amazing spread of delicious food and the room looked lovely.  We helped with last minute preparations and then spent an enjoyable evening.

I tasked Mark with taking some pictures.  He took one of the food and one of Owen, the things that mattered most to him:

Here we are, hanging out before the festivities started.  Natalie is pinning the boutonniere on her dad's jacket.

He did manage to get a picture of the happy couple.  Here they are next to the mother of Anna's best friend from high school:

I stood next to Amy most of the night.  We laughed at each other's stories and she introduced me to people. Everyone I talked to told me how lucky we were and how wonderful Anna is and how much they love her.

I know how lucky we are.  I promise I know.

Amy and I thought of things I could say in response to make for awkward moments.  I could say, "Really?!?" or "Will you tell me what you like about her because we are so worried!" or "I'm glad somebody thinks so."

(I didn't end up creating any awkward moments though.)

When the reception was winding down, Braeden changed the music from the 40s jazz stuff I'd been playing to more contemporary dance kind of music.  Mark Carlson said, "I don't want people to think this is the after party."

Adam said, "Maybe we could play, 'Saturday is a Special Day, It's the Day We Get Ready for Sunday.'"

Mark said, "Do you have it?"

We didn't.

Then Mark decided we should play, 'So Long, Farewell' from The Sound of Music.  I could find that on my phone but I said, "That seems rude!"

Mark said, "No, these are our friends."

So I went in the kitchen and told Amy that it was Mark's idea, not mine.

We cleaned up and Amy sent us back to our airbnb with bread and cheese and key lime tarts for our breakfast.

We sat with them at church and I felt sad that it was ending.  Adam said, "I feel like we've made these great new friends but I don't know when we'll see them again."

We need to live closer to each other.

After sacrament meeting, Amy loaded us up with more food and we said our good-byes.  Braeden and Anna were staying another day and it feels weird that he is his own person now; they are their own family.  We don't need to keep track of his comings and goings.

We drove to Baltimore and flew home.  It was a whirlwind, but a happy one.

I'm back

The natives (OK, just Marianne) are starting to get restless because I haven't been blogging.

I've had one or twelve things going on though.

It's been a busy push to get ready for the first day of school with lots of meetings and commitments at the school, plus we went to Washington, D.C. and Virginia!

It has been at once enjoyable and exciting and exhausting.  I'm really looking forward to a boring fall with a predictable and mundane routine.  Fingers crossed.

Adam and Emma and Mark flew to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.  They did some sightseeing around The Mall but mostly, they were at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum by Dulles airport.  There were things like the Enola Gay and the Discovery Space Shuttle there and they were big fans.  Ask Mark to show you his pictures.  (Or just wait until he asks if he can.)  Also, Emma said she loves the entire balloonist aesthetic.

When you're the mother of Emma, she tells you which aesthetic she is in favor of or not.  That's just how it is.

Thursday I had a full day of meetings (including but not limited to a meeting for all the Alpine School District employees).  The cheerleaders and drum lines from the high schools greeted us.

I felt like a hero.  Is this how high school sports stars feel?

That evening I flew to Washington, D.C. also.  I prefer flying with my family and not just because I couldn't figure out my headphones.

(Although that was a consideration.)

The swampy humidity of August on the East Coast was in full force.  The cicadas chorused and Adam freaked Emma and Mark out a little at one point by telling them to hurry because as soon as the sun went down the cicadas started falling out of the trees.

We went sightseeing on Friday.  We went to the Capitol:

And Adam said we should go to the Library of Congress.  I'm all about stacks of books but I thought that was all the Library of Congress would be and I wanted to see other stuff more.

We ended up going though and I'm so glad we did.  Also, the part we went to is more like a museum than a library.

The architecture was opulent and everything was beautiful every way you looked.  We saw a Gutenberg Bible, a Suffragette exhibit, Thomas Jefferson's personal library that he donated to the Library, a display of maps including the first map where the word America appeared.

Library of Congress = worth it.

We saw Adam's doppelgänger on the steps of the Supreme Court building.  Adam is an enthusiastic follower of the Supreme Court.  He follows their cases with interest and we saw a husband on the steps--who looked sort of like Adam--with his wife taking pictures him.  We of course made up an entire back story for the guy, who Emma named Jeff.  Adam just shook his good-natured head at us.

We walked from there to the National Gallery and Adam jaywalked on a tiny deserted street.  We were all shocked because he never jaywalks.  We decided he and Jeff (who jaywalks all the time) had switched essences.  At that very moment, Jeff was walking to the corner to walk in the crosswalk and his wife was mystified because it was so unlike Jeff.

Adam just kept walking and pretended not to know us.

When I was a little girl, my parents had an art book I loved.  (I've told my mom that is what I want for my inheritance.)  Years ago when I went in the National Gallery for the first time, I realized that all the paintings in that book were from there.  It was sort of astounding.  Emma and I walked around the museum together (while Adam and Mark moved the car) and I showed her the paintings I'd loved as a child, including the Rococo ones I had wanted to live inside.

We both got a little teary when we walked into a room that had Manets and Monets and Renoirs.  We're nerds but we have each other.

I sent Adam sort of unhelpful pictures like this of where we were:

He instead used his phone to track me but we were on a different floor than he was and the phone didn't know that.

This is just to say we should mostly stick together.

After Adam and Mark joined us, we were looking at a Van Gogh.  I was pointing out the brushstrokes because the brushstrokes on original paintings are my everything.  A terse security guard said, "No pointing!"

I said, "I can't point?"

She said, "Well, not that close."

So I backed up a few feet.  Emma said maybe it hurts the paintings feelings if people point at them.

Mark wanted to see the World War II Memorial and the FDR Memorial before we left town so we obliged.  By then we were all hot + sweaty but how I love Washington, D.C.  It is a beautiful city that makes me feel patriotic.  I also loved hanging out with my people.

We headed to Charlottesville. ( I'll tell you more later.)

But here's something for you:

First day of school for my 11th grader!  I can't think about it too much.  That is all.

He's sporting his uniform of t-shirt and sweats.  He spent his childhood in a t-shirt and track pants.  We had a few good years when he wore actual pants but he has gone back to his native tradition.

Things delighting me

I've seen a few of my favorite students in the past few days.  I told one of them, "I know you're an artist but will you sing for me in music class?" and he started singing quietly.

Also, he's super naughty and will probably cause problems in music class but I love that kid.

**

*

Janet and I had a big and long overdue catchup phone conversation.  2 hours and 45 minutes.  You read that right.

**

*

At our back to school faculty BBQ, the special ed teacher who embodies Christ-like love said a blessing on the food.  I love living in Utah where you have a blessing on the food at the back to school faculty BBQ.

**

*

We saw the happy couple last night!  We have had very small communication in the last week and it was great to see them and hug them.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in Virginia!

**

*

I finished my display cases.  It was not a delightful process but I'm delighted they are done.

Mark

Because I know full well that kids have a way of growing up and leaving, I value my morning walks with Mark, even though he is cheeky.  We were walking along and a truck came up behind us, I said, "We'd better move over or be mowed down in our prime." (I like to speak dramatically.)

Mark said, "Well, one of us would be."

**

*

I wanted to check I knew how to use my phone as a wifi hot spot so I told Mark I needed tech support.

He said:

Call one of the people who works for dad.  Have them walk out of their office and yell, "Adam, your wife is on the phone."

He will say, "Tell her I'm not here."

You will say, "I heard that!"

He will say, "Rats."  Or maybe he'd say, "Drat."

(I've never heard Adam say either rats or drat.)

I said, "Or maybe you could just answer my question, Mark."

He said, "Oh.  OK."

I just didn't want you think life with Mark is boring.

Thelma's moments of high anxiety

Problems:

1) I was told, sort of at the last minute, that I'm in charge of six display cases at my school.  It's because I'm the art specialist.  SO squeezed between everything, I've been trying to come up with ideas.  I decided to have six hexagons in one of the cases, with the 6 Cs on them.  The Alpine School district is all about the 6 Cs.  Citizenship, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and character.

I wanted them bigger than a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and different colors with the words printed on them.  That all created challenges because how would I make the shapes correctly if I wasn't printing them on paper?  How would I get the words printed on them?  It was a conundrum.

2) Mark's insulin pump is great--except when he can't figure it out.  Saturday he was installing a new cartridge and putting insulin in but the pump was indicating there were only 60 units of insulin when Mark thought there were a lot more.  It's stressful because if you run out of insulin, you have to change the whole thing sooner and that is not only a hassle, but I'm not sure our insurance will go for it.

3) At the same time all of the above was happening, I was trying to get to the bottom of a weird smell in our kitchen.  It didn't exactly smell like something burning, but it smelled enough like something burning that I was concerned.

The smell was strongest by the sink.  I looked under the sink, checking out the disposal, it all seemed fine.  I felt every outlet to see if they were warm to the touch.  They weren't.  I had Mark get up and unscrew all the can lights to see if they were the trouble because I'd read that CFL bulbs can melt rarely.  One smelled sort of weird but not really.

I went down to the breaker box in the basement and realized that some of the switches were distinctly warmer than others.  That sort of freaked me out. (I think my fear was escalated because our neighbors' house with the same builder had a fire in their kitchen earlier this year due to wonky wiring.)

Adam was at a church meeting--the leadership training for stake conference.

I called my dad who was at the hospital with my mom, who is recovering from surgery.  My mom was with a physical therapist and my dad had gone to get food--and left his phone behind (probably because of people like me) so I couldn't get ahold of them.

I had to do something!

I got online and found "emergency 24 hour electricians".  I left two messages at two different companies that were never returned so I hope you and I never have a true electrical emergency.

Solutions:

Adam came home from his meeting and talked me down from my agitation.  People like me, who overreact, need people in their lives like him, who don't.  He said, "We will figure all of this out."  He said, "We'll figure out the hexagons tonight."  He said, "I will read up more in Mark's user manual about the pump.  We can take him for more training."

"But when?" I whined.  (Because time is one thing we don't have in abundance.)

He said our house wasn't going to burn down and we could safely go to our evening session of stake conference.

My dad called me back.  He told me that warm switches in a breaker box are what happens and not to worry.

Adam and I went to our meeting which was excellent.

After, we drove to JoAnn Fabrics and bought 12 inch scrapbook paper. (For hexagons--why am I such a weirdo with a need for hexagons?)

Back in the kitchen, that bizarre burning smell was going strong near the sink.  I picked up a boot shaped pot I had a start of a philodendron in.  THAT was the smell!  I think the plant food was reacting with the material of the pot.  Adam suggested I put it in his office and then if his office started smelling weird we would know the culprit.

Mark was feeling morose because the thing he seems to hate the most is feeling like he is out of control of his diabetes.  I texted Karla, who is the kind woman who trained us about the pump (she said I could text her anytime) to request more training.

She called me.  At 9:00 on a Saturday night.  I put her on speaker phone and she talked to Mark and me.  She walked us through some things.  She's awesome.

Adam figured out a way to make hexagons (which didn't work because it turns out that 12 inch scrapbook paper isn't really 12 inches square).

My dad came home (because he was staying with us while my mom was in the hospital).  I had him smell the plant.  He validated me that it did indeed smell like something burning and I threw the entire thing away.

My dad sat down with a ruler and a little compass.  He drew a small circle in the center of a page and then drew lines and ended up with a hexagon because he is basically a wizard.

Adam printed the words on vellum so you could still see the paper.  He had the idea to attach them with tiny tacks and I remembered I had tiny brad clasps which delight me.  The vellum was a perfect solution and Adam is basically a wizard.

Moral of the story:

Sometimes the solution is easy (throw the plant away), sometimes you just need to ask for help (text Karla) and sometimes you just need wizards (my dad and Adam).

Grateful Friday

What to choose?

There are a lot of things I could write about, but I'll pick siblings.  I'm grateful for mine.  They provide me scaffolding that keeps me up at times.

Looking over some pictures that friends have sent me, I've been delighted by these sibling pictures:

These sweet kids will grow and change and move hither and yon.  They will have hard things happen and celebrate some victories.

I hope they always rely on each other.

Just wow

I didn't take one picture (hey I hired a photographer), but I lifted this one from Facebook my SIL posted.
My heart is full.  So full.  I feel gratitude in abundance.

I don't know if I can adequately get it down but I have to try.

Tuesday morning this was happening:  Emma the makeup artist and Natalie curling her sister's hair.

I love all three of these sweet girls.

Stella and Natalie and I drove to the temple together: two women I'm not technically related to but I feel like I am.

I took two steps out of the car and the strap on my sandal broke.

Stella said, "What size do you wear?"

I said, "9."

"I have some navy blue shoes that are 8 1/2." (My dress was navy blue.)

She dug them out of her suitcase, I threw the broken shoes into the car and away we went.

#1 takeaway from the day:  sisterhood in all its forms is real.

Maybe not the #1 takeaway.  The high point of everything was in the temple.  My feelings leaked right out my eyes.  There was a box of kleenex stationed next to my chair and one next to Amy's.  Not the temple's first encounter with mothers.  I felt immense gratitude that we were at this point.  All the everything Adam and I have ever wanted for Braeden was happening in that moment in that room.  And I realized that there was no way I could have dreamed up a better wife for him.  Sometimes it pays to let your kids make their own choices!

Imagine.

In the temple I also felt immense gratitude for Adam and the love we share and the life we have and the covenants we've made to each other.

There was record breaking heat.  It was 103 outside the temple when we were taking pictures.  My face will be red and shiny in every picture.  Really, I wasn't counting on looking super great in the pictures anyway though.  Photogenic I'm not.

We next went to Magleby's in Springville where Anna's parents hosted a lovely luncheon.  It was delicious and so very nice and my anxiety about the reception started escalating.  Adam and I made an exit.  I got $11 shoes at Walmart because size 8 1/2 shoes were pinching my toes (even though Stella insisted I could just keep them.)

The $11 Walmart shoes were super uncomfortable like you would expect so I ended up wearing my casual sandals I brought to run around in while we were setting up.

By the time Adam and I got to the Art Museum, preparations were in full swing.  I had put Olivia at the helm and her sweet boys were setting up chairs and my friends arrived to start helping.  Marianne showed up with several hundred rolls she'd been sent to Costco for.

Stephanie and I frosted the styrofoam cake and Desi adorned it with flowers and it didn't look half bad!

I felt overwhelmingly loved.  My parents were there helping to entertain Stella (and I backed up to my dad so he could tie my sash on my dress which is what I've done my entire life.)  Ammon and Melanee pitched in prepping food and Ammon left for the store to buy a knife because I forgot to bring one to slice the rolls.  I had a small and effective army of friends manning the kitchen.  They are the type of friends you can just hand things over to.  Every time I turned around I saw one of them refilling ice or water or replenishing the food table.  My darling nieces served me in so many ways.  Desi completely and expertly handled the flowers.  She selected them and ordered them and picked them up and then created an amazingly beautiful bridal bouquet, all the corsages and boutonnieres and decorated the tables and cake.  I didn't even have to think about it.  Emma and Liberty and Liliana and Carolina were her lovely assistants.  And I saw during the reception Savannah, completely without any sort of prompting, clearing dishes from tables.

Emma and Lili and Savannah don't have sisters but I just hope they appreciate the sisterhood they are part of.  Those nieces are a force for good in the world.

My friend Cortney texted me a picture of them dancing:

I appreciated help from Adam's family.  Geri helped prep food on Monday and Megan and Talia took the food to the venue Tuesday morning and Geri and Whitney helped unload the van the next day.

And I would be nothing without my sisters.

Starting Monday they were by my side, bossing me around in all the right ways and helping with the kind of rapid efficiency they excel at.  Tuesday morning I turned around and the food prep was done and Olivia had washed all the dishes.

I don't know how I would live my life without those girls.  Olivia was there til the bitter end and (to the delight and surprise of my friends) I had to bully Marianne into leaving because she was driving all the way back to Nevada. My friends said, "Thelma!  We've never seen this side of you!"

My sisters are the kind of girls that have to be forced to stop helping.  That's all you need to know about them.

The next morning I talked to my sweet mother who has had such a health struggle for so many months it would completely demoralize someone of less fortitude.  She said all the right and reassuring things to me about how it had all gone and then she said, "I'm so sorry I didn't help more.  I really wanted to."

I assured her that I knew that.  I said, "I've met you.  I'm familiar.  I know who you are."

(My sisters got it from somewhere.)

I never quite cooled down from the picture taking.  I went from that inferno to a small respite at the luncheon to running around in the heat again.  (a garden reception seemed so idyllic...in April when we made the arrangements)

Before the reception began, my friend Susan said, "You look very red.  You need to drink some water and sit down."

I outlined the various errands I was running around doing.  She said, "I'm going to follow you until you get some water.  Get some water now."

And true to her word, she tailed me until I had a cup full of ice water in my hand.

And I think Susan was on the right track.  I never cooled down and I think I got a mild case of heat stroke.  When we finally got home, I felt nauseous and had a terrific headache.  I took a cool shower and felt some better.

The next day I delivered gifts of thank you and a plate of brownies to my friends.  Marie Louise and I sat on her front porch (it was about 20 degrees cooler than the previous day, of course it was) and we visited and laughed.  Then I went to Susan's.  I told her thank you for making me drink water. We sat on her couch in her lovely living room and visited and teared up a little when we were talking about things close to our hearts.

I feel blessed to have the people in my life that I have.

(And you know I'll add pictures to this family record that is my blog when I get them.)

(And I'm not sure when I'll stop talking about the wedding.)

Gaining a daughter and losing a bunch of stuff

Sounds like a win win to me.

Braeden starting packing up his room on Friday.  He packed up his clothes and propaganda posters from off his walls.  I told him he could have the Washington state flag he's had hanging up (but I think it ended up in Mark's room). We analyzed books and decided which were his and which were community property.   At one point, he stopped what he was doing and threw his arms around me.

"Thanks for teaching me to read!  Look at all these books!"

I can't take credit for teaching Emma to read, that just happened.  I am taking ALL the credit for Braeden though.  That battle was hard fought.

I gave him copies of my grandparents' life stories and a copy of Humboldt Heritage which is a book about Elko Stake history that also contains a lot of family history.  These records are all courtesy of my mom and I'm grateful.  Braeden picked up the stack and said, "I feel like Lehi with my records."

To continue with a theme, later he took a magazine file full of Bionicle comics to Mark.  "You know how Nephi gave the sacred texts to his brother when he died?  That's what I'm doing."

"You're not dying though," I said.

And he would agree.  He's super happy.

By Saturday afternoon, Braeden's room was empty and sound echoed in there. It was frankly a little heartbreaking to me.

I told Adam to only go there if he had the emotional fortitude.  I said, "It's emp-ty."

He said, "Should we go to IKEA tonight?"

I said, "Yes.  Let's buy more furnishings.  And tapestries for the walls.  We need to fill that room."

(We didn't go.  We had a lot of other stuff going on. Also, I don't even think IKEA sells tapestries.)

**

*

Last night we sat out on the deck with a lightning storm flashing across the valley.  Emma played her guitar and the three of them sang Johnny Cash and Elvis songs.  Mark hitting the low notes on "Folsom Prison Blues" is my everything.  The evening felt magical and as I looked at those three, I thought, I'm going to miss this.

But I also know life marches on.  I know Braeden getting married to Anna will bring him more happiness than he thought possible.  I know I love Anna.  She will only add goodness to our family.

The only thing I'm losing is a bunch of stuff. And I'm gaining a beautiful daughter.

Grateful Friday

In all the everything, I'm not forgetting an important fact.  This Sunday is our 24th wedding anniversary.  Twenty-four happy years full of ups and downs and sorrows and a whole lot of joy.

Being married to Adam is the best thing about my life.

The other night we were talking about where to get dinner.  I said, "We could go to that one place...what's it called?  Bumblebee?"

(I never remember the names of places.)

"Or wait," I said.  "Is that the name of that other place?"

"Bee's Dairy in Mystic, Connecticut?"

"Yeah."

Because I just have to say that other place and Adam knows what I mean.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, 10,000 hours at something makes you an expert.  I figured it out (I used a calculator) and 24 years = 210,240 hours.

So we are experts.  At being married to each other.

Here's to many more years of knowing what the other person means.

Elementary schools are my love language

Yesterday Mark (my favorite sidekick) and I were in the office at the school and a mother was there with her children registering for the new year.  One of the secretaries introduced me to her.  I was filling out some paperwork and the oldest child came up to me shyly.

"You're the music teacher?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "What's your name?"

He told me.  Also, he's in fourth grade.  I kept filling out my form and he said, "Hey look, we both have watches."

I held my watch side by side to his.  Sure enough.  We both had watches.

When we were leaving the school, I was telling Mark how much the interaction delighted me.

"I love kids and schools," I said.  "Maybe I should be a teacher."

Mark shrugged.  "Maybe."