Connectedness

I love those connections that make this big old world feel like a little village.

Gina Bellman

Yesterday was kind of a banner day around here phone-wise.  I talked to Braeden and Emma on the phone.  Usually we subsist on text messages and it was nice to just talk.

Also, Marianne, Olivia and Enoch each called me (and Tabor called me a few days ago).  I don't talk to any of them nearly enough in all the busyness of everything but it was great to catch up, to feel loved.  They wanted to know how I was.  They asked about our kids and I asked about theirs.  Marianne made me cry by telling me a sweet story and then I cried even more because I told her about a student I purely love who I also worry about.  When I talked to my siblings, I feel understood.  I feel cared about.

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Last night we had a Relief Society meeting.  I'm on the committee and I'm usually a little grudging.  Even though I truly enjoy being with the other women on the committee, I usually feel like it's one more thing I don't want to make time for.  But since I'm Coralee Dahl's daughter, I saddle up and go help anyway.  Last night our activity was a "Not So Young Girls' Camp."  We met in a backyard and had a fire.  I was kind of dreading it as it mostly fell into the category of out of my comfort zone.  The committee performed a skit and sang a silly song and then I led everyone in camp songs and we had s'mores.  (Fancy s'mores--and the s'mores weren't the part I was dreading.)

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For our skit, Cortney pulled out marshmallows and said she wanted to roast them.  She said we needed sticks.  Terri was whittling and Cortney asked for her sticks.  Terri grudgingly gave them.  Then they decided they needed graham crackers.  Terri said, "Hey, Susan has crackers."  Susan didn't want to give them.  She said she was going to use them for a craft--making birdhouses out of them.  She finally gave them up though.  Next Susan said she'd spied some chocolate in my bag.  I admitted I had chocolate but I said it was my favorite kind and I was saving it for later.  But they finally convinced me.  S'mores are a gooey mess and we didn't have napkins so I asked Debbie for a page or two from her notebook to use as napkins.  She didn't want to share but finally did.  Then Michelle stepped in.  She said, "Oh no!  You have to use these!" and gave us each a cloth napkin.  She said she'd been saving them for a lesson on etiquette but would share them.

Our small sacrifices turned into s'mores for everyone.

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At the end of the evening, some people streamed away back to their houses, but some people lingered.  We chatted in the darkening evening.  I had a few conversations that felt real.  Somehow it seems easier to share vulnerabilities when you've just had chocolate and are cozy in a pretty backyard.

It was time to clean up and the committee gathered things and helped take loads to each others' cars.  Michelle and I were laughing and loading her truck and she said, "I just love you, Thelma."

And I love her too.

We finished loading Susan's car and she turned and gave us each a hug.  Then we all hugged each other.  It just felt like that kind of a night.

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As I was driving home, I was thinking about the evening.  I realized that the skit pretty much exactly reflected real life for me.  I hadn't really wanted to share.  After what felt like a busy week--a series of busy weeks--what I really wanted to do was stay home with Adam and Mark.  But I reluctantly went. I did what was asked.  And I was rewarded.  Just like in the skit, the small sacrifice I made in time and energy turned into something as warm and delicious as a s'more:  feeling connected.