Our mailman has been 3 for 3 this week for bringing good things. He delivered the long awaited passport. The next two days he delivered some family history and a kind note. I have been praying for that silly passport to come, and feel so happy that we are moving forward again with Tim’s travel details. I learned a new dimension of trust in God’s will as I gave up my worry each day, a tattered offering to God who does not make mistakes, and whose will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
I had an errand in Provo this morning and I drove past my parents’ old home, the usual routine. I knew the house was going on the market, but I saw the sign today. I drove the familiar streets that seem to be smaller with time. That we live out our lives within a few walls and a few blocks seems to me both narrow and warming. The neighborhood church still stands, the river flows nearby, and the friends and children we knew are all grown or gone. My memories are keen and strong of the smells, temperatures, and colors of the seasons of my childhood. At least I have a childhood home to visit. Just blocks from my parents’ old house the hospital system leveled an entire neighborhood, minus one holdout whose yard is encircled by a parking lot.
I drove to the Provo temple, my usual routine, forgetting the Missionary Training Center was right across the street. Gasp. In exactly 1 month we will drop off Timothy at this place, another testament that the important places of our lives overlap and converge. I felt small again, with life’s interactions, routines, and milestones, so big in my mind but so tightly bound in space.
I have lived in Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona during my adult life, but the spaces of my childhood are still part of my experiences today in memory and place. Home, school, church, temple, and back again.
I baked cookies to decorate last night and invited the family. There wasn’t nearly the amount of sampling as there used to be on such occasions, but the skills and creativity are still strong. “Stay young at heart!” Halloween reminds us.
Current light in my house is in the shades of orange and yellow, and I am a project-driven maniac. Fall is my time. It is when I was born. It is when I get things accomplished. Mission list? DONE. Christmas presents? Almost DONE. Neighbor gifts? BOOM! November and December, I am ready. Bring all you have to ask of me. Bring it all: a missionary, home MTC, Primary programs, speaking and training assignments, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Thanks to a healthy and productive October I am more prepared face all the things, and have a cushion of time for the goodbye. I fall apart sometimes, and it isn’t all perfect, but I know God has been in the details of this season.
I have been stitching doll features in the evenings. This doll is for someone who has been really generous to me this year, and I suspect she has her own set of worries that I don’t know a lot about.
Our Sunday dinner question was inspired by all of the Primary programs I have been attending lately. I asked everyone to tell us what their Sunbeam-level talk would be, which is basically a simplified version of something we believe, as a 4-year-old might say it. This made us feel surprisingly vulnerable, but I loved the responses.
Tim: “I like reading the scriptures.” (Pronounced without any “R’s”)
Mark: “I like my family.”
Richard: “Jesus wants us to be kind to one another.”
Angela: “Jesus Christ is my hero.”
Michael: “Families can be together forever.”
Paige: “The pretty fall leaves help me feel Heavenly Father’s love.”
Daniel: “Heavenly Father helps us when things get hard.”
McKenna: “Jesus makes things less scary.”
We had three artists leave their work in the art gallery this week. The mama of these two boys had us smile for the camera and sent me these photos. This moment hearing the boys talk about their art was one of the highlights of my week.
This version of Clair de Lune played on my radio station today. I stopped unloading the dishwasher to look up the artist and I spent time searching online so I could enjoy it again. I bought the song, then I listened and listened some more, and never got back to the dishwasher task. I guess I needed this song more than a clean kitchen.
Thanks to Paige who found this on YouTube so I could share it.
In the early 2000’s, I remember writing down a wishlist for a system to keep track of important family events. It would need to be a place for writing and pictures which would also allow for incidental and everyday things to be saved. I think I’m my mind it was an organization system in a three-ring binder. I didn’t know then that I was describing a blog. Today I was going through photos on my phone and realized I have a collection of screenshots that I would probably like to remember. So, here is a post of incidental things that mattered to me during the past month or so.
