Mark and I have been studying ocean life, especially coral reefs in biology lately, so we made a trip to the aquarium down the street from our house.
Mark doesn’t believe anybody loves this kind of stuff more than the two of us. We take our time and watch the animals and read the signs. As we walked to our favorite part of the museum, he slipped his hand into mine and held it for a few seconds.
He loved the South American exhibit because they play drums over a speaker system as part of the tropical rainforest atmosphere. The rope bridge and the enormous fish and poison dart frogs are also big attractions there.
We love the penguins (hint: learn their names), rays, sharks, birds, leopards, and turtles. The snakes, tarantulas, and smelly Bearcats from Asia are lower on the list.
Today we get back to the books, but this day of field study will keep us smiling for a while.
We spent a couple of days at Arches National Park this week to replenish our spirits. We did this by depleting all the energy in our bodies. For me, I was pretty depleted to begin, but I made it up the trails. I felt fear like I never remember before, the kind of fear that zings through the body and comes to rest, hot and electric in the feet and fingertips, as I watched the boys climb and jump over rock faces. I felt my spirit expand as I looked out over vistas. Concerns that felt so heavy moved to their proper place in my mind, less prominent and less pressing. We enjoyed our time with Shari’s family. We spent money at a rock shop and ate pop tarts. Comic books and AP History papers littered the back seat of the truck. We played card games in the tent trailer at night and made jokes about signs we saw. My boys said, Look, mom!” a dozen times (My favorite phrase). Food was often the topic of conversation when we weren’t eating. Mark swam at the campground pool until we had to leave. I read four whole pages.
These kite string moments, where we watch the boys soar, are different for Richard than for me. He photographs everything and urges us to do more hikes and make the most of the time. I sit and watch, allowing time to be insignificant, focusing on small moments of how they looked and talked on this day. Then I set the memories away gently in my mind. My favorite moment was sitting under our last arch of the trip, watching the crowds and the boys, Richard and I resting in our little niche in the rock. All was well.
Recently, something triggered the thought, “How did we get to this point, a daughter halfway through college, and sons speeding after her?” I felt disconnected and shocked to see where time had carried us.
We have been present in the kids’ lives; There are 14 years home schooling to look back on. We have been mindful and careful in parenting decisions. We have been there for almost every important milestone. We’ve been there for the little things, such as family meals and scripture study, tucking in, and prayers. It seems like we have earned the right to feel the situation with more sense of reality, but I don’t. How could anything creep up on us with all this focus on our family?
Perhaps that’s just it, we have been so focused on the minutes, I haven’t grasped the years going by. I keep hearing that this is common. It makes me wonder how it will be when my “youthful” self is in a shell that looks much older than I am now. Will that reality be just as shocking? Probably.
Centerpieces we did for the family dinner after the memorial service
Carol was a member of my congregation. She was endearing. Several of her nieces and nephews said that she loved them like each one was her favorite. She loved them differently, just as they needed to be loved. Isn’t that beautiful?
It was a rainy Monday. Mark went grocery shopping with me and brought his magic 8 ball for car entertainment. He tells me the ball is about 90% accurate.
I took some time to decorate the house for spring today. I rediscovered this drawing as I went through pictures and frames. This was Paige 19 years ago at Easter time. I hung this on the wall of her quiet room. It made me smile.
I took a couple of shots of our RS birthday party as it was winding down and some people had already gone home. To get everyone to smile, I told them I was printing these pictures to give to a sister in a care facility. That’s love you see in their smiling faces.
We played games and there was a trivia contest about Relief Society history. Each month in 2017 we are providing service for the refugees in our community. Last month, we prepared over 70 kits with cleaning and hygiene supplies. This month, our sisters donated around 100 reusable shopping bags. We watch for needs on the Serve Refugees app and advertise them. Many sisters can’t attend activities at night, but they can participate in this service, and they do. The evening was light and happy. It was good.
Mark and Richard worked very hard on this final car for the Ross family pit crew. They decided that they would be happy no matter the outcome. Their goal was to design a car that looked awesome. When the car got 4th place, it was a nice ending for a great time together.
I met these friends by serving in Relief Society. Their faith has been a strength to me for 15 years.
Today I celebrate Relief Society, the women’s organization in my Church. I’m not celebrating the stuffy idea of women in a classroom with a tablecloth, not the trite definition of women getting together to gab over quilt frames, but the full measure of power for good in the women of the Church.
Every year, my definition of Relief Society grows. It is about so much more than we usually acknowledge.
If you learned Primary songs, attended a Youth Conference, heard a choir, went to Sunday school, listened to prelude music before a meeting, attended Cub Scout den meetings and youth activities, you have been blessed by the sisters of Relief Society. If you were taught by sister missionaries, you have a special window into the heart of Relief Society sisters.
If you have received a meal when a family member has been sick, eaten at a funeral luncheon in an LDS meeting house, had visiting teachers in your home, or received cookies from your Mormon neighbor, you have been touched by the Relief Society.
If you have a collection of Young Women handouts, a baptism towel, or a blanket made by a Relief Society sister, you have evidence of the time women are willing to put into their responsibilities.
If you have served in any ward council, stake presidency, youth committee, Primary calling, Cub Scouting, or have been a Bishop, you have learned from sisters in the Relief Society. If you have children who attend nursery, Primary, or Young Women meetings, you will find the Relief Society sisters in action. If you have a daughter living away from home, you feel comfort knowing she has a Relief Society president who knows her name. If you have a child who doesn’t attend church, you have probably prayed that someone would reach out to them. Sisters try to be the answer to such prayers every day.
It would be difficult to find a member of the Church who has not been touched by the kindness, knowledge, or testimony of a Relief Society sister.* Much kindness also extends to people not of our faith. It would be easy to find faults with individual members of Relief Society. We are full of faults, and one of them is the idea that we will never be able to do enough good. This is a lie that many of us combat daily. It’s impressive how much we can attribute to the women of the Church, however, serving in their callings and personal ministries, in their studies, and in their acts of faith in Christ, who strengthens them.
If you are thinking of a Relief Society sister who has touched your life, write to her or call her and tell her thank you. She probably won’t remember the thing she did that made a difference to you, but what else would you expect from a woman who is doing so much good in the world?
*In the time that it took to write this post, a woman from my Relief Society (my visiting teacher) stopped by to give me a plant and share some laughs. Another stopped by with some lip balm to put in a care package for a woman who is living away from home. Richard, who is camping with the Scouts called to say that he didn’t need to worry about dinner plans because a woman from our Relief Society surprised them and brought stew, lemon bars, and eclairs for dinner.
