Category: Home

A new season

The tang of cool evening air has signaled to my brain that summer is coming to an end. I have taken down the summer decor and replaced it with some autumn things. It always makes family members sad when I pack up two seasons, summer and Christmas, so I try to make the changes when when no one is looking.

This will be the season that Tim gets married. We moved furniture to his new apartment this weekend and seeing his room at our house without a bed was jarring. There are many endings in life. The children leave for college and they leave for missions, but when they get married, we experience a more definitive end to the years of being together. He won’t sleep under our roof many more nights.

I don’t mind decor changing, in fact, I welcome it. But it really makes me pause when I see those empty rooms once inhabited by our children.

13

Our music room, violin not stowed away so I will practice.

I remember dates from our history, and if I am not careful, this blog could become a log of old memories. Today is another special one. August 13th was the day we moved into our current home 13 years ago. The move had a significant impact on our children’s lives and who they chose to marry.

Paige was introduced to Michael through a friend from our Sandy ward.

Daniel met McKenna in middle school.

Tim met Queenie in high school.

The house has adapted to many configurations of family members, in and out through their college and mission years. Lately we can count on weekend visits from Tim because Queenie lives nearby.

Today the corners of our house hold Queenie’s wedding dress while I finish some alterations, settings and centerpieces for a wedding luncheon, storage for Daniel and Tim’s belongings, and Mark’s old crib in his room for visits from Paige’s family. Most of the time I am alone in the house now. It has been a good house for our family in all our seasons.

Backyard buddy

Paige’s little boy loves to be outdoors. During their visit, we spent evenings in the backyard catching bugs, studying the I-spy quilt, and holding his hand as he walked around. When the crew arrived to take down our old fence, he and Richard spent some time watching the process. Later, when telling us all about it, he imitated the sounds of the fence crashing down. Who needs a lot of words when you can imitate the sounds of tools and workers so well?

Those tiny moments together this week amount to more than most events of my life.

Getting ready

We’re getting ready to entertain two young families with babies. Paige and her family are coming, and Celina and her young family are coming to stay with us. Celina and Paige became friends 19 years ago in Arizona and have remained close. It’s time for their little boys to meet. I am populating shelves with toys and books in anticipation. Hooray!

For March

Lives full of praise, music, and thanksgiving are uniquely blessed. Being joyful and relying on heavenly help through prayer is a powerful way to be peaceable followers of Christ. Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.

Quentin L Cook, October 2023

Hand out of water

A friend asked me recently if I am keeping busy these days. She said that it’s funny how you can be so busy raising children, and just like lifting a hand from a bucket of water, immediately the gap gets filled when they are gone.

It was a good analogy, a hand lifted from water. Things just slide in to take over the days. This is not to say that the transition is easy or without complexity, and I think the process has aged me. The process is also transforming me. There are many things to do in life, and they come rushing at me each morning in ripples of ideas and possibilities. So, I keep sloshing along, not in a hurry, but finding meaning in a few new things. Fluid is my favorite metaphor for life right now.

Gallery wall someday

Working on a gallery wall arrangement means that I am taking lots of photos of different art configurations.

My decluttering project last week was to get rid of unwanted picture frames and to frame some treasures in the basement. I matched art to frames and collected a big box of frames for donation. I completed my goal to declutter, but the basement floor is covered in art, so it’s hard to tell.