Motherhood

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are five thousand that say it all about the joy of motherhood. Happy Mother's Day!

Article about my nephew, Gordon

This AP article about my nephew and other missing men from the Deepwater Horizon will appear in many newspapers. It doesn't tell all. My nephew, Gordon, was the kindest, happiest and friendliest man imaginable. There just haven't been many people in the world like him. He kindly took over a shift for a co-worker a few hours early and, by doing so, put himself in the spot where he was killed. The other man was able to get off the rig safely.

There is an Eternal plan and we can't possibly see it from our mortal perspective. It's impossible right now for me to fit this experience into any kind of destiny that makes sense. But that day will come and I'm pretty sure it won't be in this life. For now, I'm going to keep praying for my family members who are most affected by this tragedy. I'll be especially praying for those two little boys who will grow up without their amazing dad.

Quandary

I am in a quandary about what to post here. I've just gotten back from one of the most heart-wrenching experiences of a lifetime. And I really don't feel like giving details out of respect. If I say that it had to do with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, you should be able to figure it out.

I would like to say a little about the experience though. I feel so sorry for the folks who have lost loved ones at the twin towers or other high profile disasters. Seeing and hearing about your grief over and over again through the media does not help. You might think that having thousands of people praying for you would be some comfort, but it doesn't make up for the constant reminders. I'm sure those prayers help in the long run, but the inability to grieve privately is such a big deal. It's like winning some horrible lottery. Out of millions of families on the earth, why does it have to be your family they keep talking about on the news? You can avoid the newspaper and you can turn off your TV and computer, but the story is still everywhere.  I walked into the dentist's office last week and saw the rig on fire on the TV in the waiting room. I burst into tears and ran back outside. In the many airports I had to go through to get to Louisiana,  I couldn't avoid seeing headlines and TV news.

My family is strong and loving. And we will all support each other. And we appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

I must be power hungry

The random photo is from the dinosaur museum at BYU. Pretty impressive.

Yesterday we went to Clarks Summit early in the morning for a choir rehearsal. It was snowing (but not sticking) when we got there. Fun. Michael likes it. So there you go.

But the experience was amazing. For the first time ever, I directed a stake (regional) church choir. The best singers in our church in Northeast PA are all there and I have the baton. What a thrill as I'm really not the best director in the world. Completely self taught and you know what that means. We sang Mack Wilberg's "Redeemer of Israel" which includes a four-part mens' section and two organists, one playing a lot of great and difficult stuff and the other playing the trumpet part on another manual. Recently sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in an international broadcast. And the choir members and organists really outdid themselves. Their performance was stirring.

I really, really enjoyed it. Probably so much that I'll never be asked to do it again. I was probably a little too enthusiastic in my directing. (Okay, a lot too enthusiastic.) But I couldn't help myself. Henry Kissinger said, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." And if bringing down the baton and having glorious music begin isn't power, I don't know what is. It was also heady to rehearse the choir and hear them get better as I made suggestions (more like commands--here we go with the power thing again.)

I guess the photo is not so random. I have a real T-Rex style as a choir director. I came home exhausted but happy.

Just pix

I've had a nap so this post is basically just pix. The quality is muy pobre because I didn't take the good camera. My daughter has one just like it, so what's the point? I could always pick hers up and shoot something, which I didn't, which makes me sad. Anyway...

This is how the beautiful new Wilkes-Barre Scranton airport looks at 4:30 AM. Yawn!

The uber-cool tunnel at the Detroit airport. Artisan glass with lots of changing colored lights behind it. And it plays music!

Couldn't resist this one. I usually don't take pix of the little ones but I don't think she can be identified from this photo. Seems the other grandmother can braid super fine hair. Cute!

Again, I don't think the little one is recognizable. This, my friends, is a stegosaurus skull. There's an amazing little museum at BYU just full of dinosaurs. And a see-through window so you can watch them do their paleontology work.

Part of an awesome display at the museum. The stuff of nightmares.

Anyway, that's an overview without the important pictures of the kids, of course.

Sick going, sick coming home but very happy in the middle

I woke up the morning of the trip with a raging migraine and came home with a cold. Yep. Them's the breaks. But there was a lot of good stuff in between.

My daughter's children are delightful. And I got every grandmother's dream---lots of one on one time. The kids took turns spending the night with Grammie. It was totally awesome as Dash would say. They came back to the hotel with me and then we had a lovely breakfast together in the morning. Pretty cool. I really appreciated having them alone because you can really listen to what they're saying and because you can make sure that their needs are met and that they are happy.

The kids were so different. I asked them to be quiet in the hotel halls so that we didn't disturb other guests and they were excellent at that. But they all went down the halls differently. In the halls there were tall skinny windows in alcoves and the oldest girl, C, couldn't pass them by without looking through. The six-year-old S had to step on just one color in the wildly patterned carpet. He wasn't obsessive about it and had to change colors several times down the hall but it was a great game (one that Catherine played sometimes too-I was tempted myself) and one that he would give up if I got ahead of him. Four-year-old J would run in spurts and remember to let me catch up. Pretty funny. Two almost three-year-old J didn't spend the night but she came to the hotel often to swim. She went down the halls on tiptoe like a fairy princess. E, the eight-month-old, didn't get much floor time in the halls as he is just army crawling but he is probably the most unlike of all the children. For one thing, he's big. The rest are small for their age. He has huge hands and feet. And he's not really lovey dovey. My daughter's kids up to this point have been natural cuddlers. And he is so active. It's constant movement with this boy. It's like holding an orangutan. He's adorable but he can flat wear you out. And so good natured. He was always ready to return a smile even if he was really unhappy about something.

It was beyond wonderful to see my granddaughter in the baptism dress I had made for her oldest aunt. That dress baptized so many little girls, I lost count. And it still looks new. She looked like an angel in it.

Pix are coming but right now I'm going back to bed. I'm coughing my head off and need a rest.

Where is the tooth fairy when I need him?

Is there anything more amazing than a daffodil? What is it about them? The long wait during winter for something spring-y and pretty? That perfect center trumpet part? The way they stand up so erect and separate from the greenery around them? Don't know, but I love them and they are all blooming all over our yard.

As for the tooth fairy, hm-m-m-m. So I've been dealing with a very sore tooth for days. The dentist had told me to pump up on ibuprofren and I had done my best. I went in today because things just weren't going well. Seems that the tooth had raised up some because of inflammation underneath it and so I was hitting on it. It was so sore. He started to adjust my bite and then said, "What do you feel in there now?"

What I felt was a big fat hole in my tooth. What to my tongue seemed like an enormous chunk had broken off as he was drilling down my old filling. Nice. He swears that it's not an issue and that that part of the tooth would have come off anyway when they do the crown in a week or so. But there's nothing like feeling with  your tongue and finding nothing but air.

So I am feeling much better today. But you know, pain sort of wears you down. I'm really tired and I guess I probably haven't been sleeping well. I'm fairly used to headache pain but tooth pain is just as wearing. I can concentrate a lot better with an aching tooth than with an aching head, but pain free is just  the way to be IMHO.

I got to do two fun things today. Both required trips out in the glorious 75 degree weather. I shipped a really nice present to my oldest girl for her birthday. (At least I hope she thinks it's nice.) And I got to pick out stuff for my granddaughter's 8th birthday.

I also got (yay!) a winning Priceline bid for the Provo Residence Inn so all the troops will be able to enjoy swimming in the indoor pool while I'm there. Michael doesn't get to go this trip (still building the cafeteria at work) but we've stayed there before. Seth took the tour of the grounds and the laundry ladies gave him the tour of the whole laundry. Pretty cool. Also, Catherine opened up the fridge in our room and in shock and dismay said, "You have ZERO food!" I will make sure there's food in that fridge as soon as possible. Don't want to damage any more of my grandchildren's psyches.