Balm for the soul

Friday was a disappointing day.  I felt weary and pretty much in full pity party mode.  Thankfully, we were heading to Nevada.  It was going to be a brief trip but it was just the respite I needed.

Minus Emma who had a drama council retreat, we hurtled our way across the Salt Flats and climbed over the mountains and found ourselves in fragrant hay fields in the shadows of the Ruby Mountains.  There's nothing quite like it.  I talked to my dad on the phone and he said that all his siblings were at their house.  I would have liked to see them all but what I really needed was a little sister face time.  Olivia and Edgar were hosting an Elder's Quorum party so we crashed it.  Marianne had arrived minutes before us to crash it as well.  Mark joined the cousin fray and I sat down at a table with my sisters, Adam and Edgar.  I picked a little food off Adam's plate and Olivia brought me a glass of water.  It just felt sublime to be there.  I noticed Luke across the grass in the cousin fray and he ran toward me.  He gave me a few big hugs.

And a hug from Luke (let alone two) made the entire trip worthwhile.

Everyone left the party and Marianne, Jennifer, Adam, Olivia, Edgar and I sat around and chatted.  We shared anecdotes about our dad, we laughed, we admired the plant that Olivia is babysitting while our aunt Olivia and her husband are serving a mission in Sweden.  The plant used to be our great grandma Olivia's plant (so, no pressure keeping it alive, Olivia).  I guess someone should let niece Olivia know that she's up next if sister Olivia is unable to keep great grandma Olivia's plant for aunt Olivia.

Phew.

Adam and I pulled Mark out of the cousin fray that was still happening even though it was nighttime.  We went over to my parents' house.  Sometimes that feels like slipping into a warm bed after a hard day and this was one of those times.  We sat down to visit.  My parents were telling us about progess in selling my grandparents' ranch.  Mark didn't know what they were talking about.  Adam explained to him, "They're selling the ranch."

"Are they dying?" Mark whispered to Adam.

"No..."

Then Adam realized Mark was getting "selling the ranch" confused with the idiom "bought the farm."

We assured Mark there were no impending deaths.

As usual Mark decided it was time to eat everything in my mother's kitchen.  My mom chided me for trying to stop him.  "Don't you think I want to feed him?" she asked.

I guess so, but I sort of want to civilize him and sometimes we are at cross purposes.  (Like at 10:00 at night when Mark is hungry.)

We were also at cross purposes when we talked politics.  My mom is NOT happy that I won't vote for who she thinks I should vote for.  I told her we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Even though I'm politically a disappointment, I know my mom loves me.  And I'm grateful.  We talked late into the night, my parents and Adam and me.  I started crying when I read my parents the latest very kind email I got from Stella and my tears don't know when to quit.  My mom went and got Kleenex for me and both parents gave me the perspective and confidence I needed.  They're these lampposts of light in my life.

Adam left for his shift of helping Robert with the Ruby Mountain Relay that they put on.  It's a big undertaking and Adam is happy to help in the overnight hours.  I think he's crazy but I also admire his goodness.  I went to bed and breathed the fresh canyon air pouring through the windows all night.  At one point I woke up and there was a rectangle of silver moonlight on the bed.  That happens at my parents' house because they have no curtains and it was magical when I was a little girl and it is magical still.

The next morning, my mom had already left to go work her Ruby Mountain Relay shift and Adam had come and gone because he wanted to help Robert more.  Since Edgar had borrowed my dad's truck, we were without a vehicle.  At least a motorized one.

My dad came inside and told me that he would take me over to where my mom was so she could buy me breakfast.  (An organization benefiting autism was serving breakfast.) I went outside where he was finishing up hitching one of his horses Andy to a buggy.  I climbed up on the seat next to him and Mark scrambled into the back and off we went.  It was only when we got to my grandparents' house where my mom was stationed and I climbed down from the buggy amidst the curious and wondering stares of some of the runners, did it occur to me that maybe everyone's dad doesn't hitch up a draft horse when his daughter needs a ride.

I spent a pleasant few hours visiting with my mom and aunt Claudia.  Then, Adam was done and we headed for home.  We had been sent a message that there was a church meeting Mark needed to be at Saturday afternoon.  In order to get him home on time, we skipped stopping to see Jennifer's kitchen painting project and seeing Enoch.

It turned out Mark didn't even need to be at the meeting after all.

Hmph.  Those are the kind of minor frustrations that make a quick trip to Nevada necessary every once in a while.