Giving Thanks

I am trying to develop the habit of looking at life from a positive side. It usually isn't too hard for me as my life seems to be full of many good things. But I sometimes get a bit mired in the underside of things. We have a lovely view from our house on a hill. We are surrounded, from horizon to horizon, with sky. It is easy to see the cycle of the heavens from here. We see the storms move in; the stars at night are bright and distinct; a full moon lights up our little hill and floods our bedroom with a soft radiance. The hills surround our spot. They are a lovely mix of brown and green at the moment. In summary, our view of the world is beautiful. That is, it is beautiful when one looks beyond our own immediate yard. The area around our home is mostly clay soil with a few stubborn weeds that don't mind the harsh conditions of wind and clay. If I concentrate on that view it leads me in a darker direction. I am prone to complain of no lovely growing things and a rather depressing vision. Both views are a reality. But concentrating on the distant beauty surely does make me a lot happier. Besides, having no fussy plants to speak of makes playing in those places a worry-free experience. So I suppose I am trying to say that there are really two universes; one is filled with beauty and one is not. Why not choose the beauty?

This Thanksgiving was our year for family. Christmas will find our kids with the other side of the family. So everyone gathered at our house for Thanksgiving this past week, except for Gerald and his family in Taiwan. That makes 16 grandchildren all under one roof. Most of them stayed for two nights in addition to our holiday. It was a wild and crazy time. Anticipating all of those babes makes for some important preparation and quite a bit of clean-up after the party is over. But the joy of having everyone outweighs all the negatives. Jessica and her family came from Seattle; that was a treat. Of course with all those life forms running about at once there isn't much opportunity for individual bonding. But there is magic is watching the family interact. My mind feasts on that.

Mom told me that she has lately been thanking the Lord for her stroke. "Why?", I asked. She said that it has brought her family closer to her and so it is worth it to her. I suppose it is possible to be grateful for the struggles in life. I'm working on that idea. I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting today on gratitude. It reminds me that a daily counting of blessings puts me in a universe of optimism. We can pick our universe. I like being in a positive place.

Pictures: top is our Thanksgiving buffet with Ben's Jessica the most prominent disher. middle is part of our gang relaxing in the living room. Bottom picture is of our Jessica's hub Chris flying his model in the back yard with grandsons Isaiah and James watching.

The Thing about Goals

When I was a little girl I often planned what I thought would be perfect days. Sadly, most of those plans remained unfulfilled. It seems to me that many ideas and dreams are like that. At least it is so for me. I have a list of things I want to accomplish. I start most of them but finish few of them. But I must announce that I have finished my mother's autobiography! It gives me such joy to say that I have finished something I have dreamed of doing for so long. Her book sits beside me at this moment as a tribute to one goal met.

I've accomplished another small goal as well. I've decided that I will hang my own art upon the few places our home walls offer. I finished one of the drawings I want to hang. It is of sunflowers. After making 4 drawings of sunflowers I believe I'm finished with them. I also want to try my hand at creating a nativity picture with my grandchildren as the models in the picture. I took some pictures of them with candlelight reflected on their faces. We'll see if I can come up with what is in my mind to do.

Our friend Elaine is back home in Colorado. She has generously offered to send me the items of Mom's that I forgot to pack. It seems that there is always a rescue for my mishaps. I'm grateful for that. Mom is recovered from our trip here, I believe. She has been alert and perky for the past few days. There are things I'd like to do for her to make her life better but the days pass and I don't do them. So I sat down with her and we made a plan for exercising every part of her, from body to mind. With a list in hand I am hoping that I can grab hold of the time we have together and make it work for us. Time. It seems to be a gift or a curse. I aim to learn how to use it to make more of my goals become reality. Here's to making time a gift.

Bottom picture is of grandsons Timothy, William and Vincent posing for me by candlelight.

She's Back

Our last two and a half weeks without Mom went by fast. Layne and I flew into Denver on Thursday morning. We landed in the middle of a snow storm! October, and snow everywhere. We admired it for awhile (well...I did; Layne doesn't care much for snow), until we discovered that the flight we hoped for into Grand Junction was canceled. Not only that flight but all following through the afternoon. We didn't have a chance of getting into Grand Junction that day.

So I talked Layne into renting a car and driving from Denver to Cedaredge. He was exhausted from several nights with little sleep so he was very easy to influence. We rented a four wheel drive SUV and headed out. We drove through the Rockies and on into Grand Junction and then Cedaredge. It took us about 5 hours. I loved the drive! Everywhere we looked it was beautiful. I believe I have done that drive before, when very young, but it felt like a new thing for me this time. Of course I was the passenger and thus able to take in the sights with my full attention. God has truly blessed this land.

We arrived at Mom's house just after dark to find all well there, thanks to our friends the Palmers. Sister Maryanne left earlier in the day for home and the Palmers were staying with Mom until our arrival. It was all very rushed, but still pleasant. It was cold in Colorado! Winter had definitely arrived there. The next morning, Friday, we hurriedly packed up Mom's stuff, filling her car to the brim, and took off. Layne drove the rental care to the Grand Junction airport while I loaded Mom and picked up our friend, Elaine Conlan, who was coming with us for a visit to California. We picked up Layne at the airport and our drive to California began.

We drove 9 hours our first day. We made lots of potty stops but Mom held herself in check until we reached our motel in Elko, Nevada. What a woman. I couldn't have done that under any circumstances. But she repeated her performance the next day. We arrived home by 6 PM on Halloween. It was still light! It was a fun trip, full of all sorts of conversation, thanks to Elaine, a cute, red-headed talker. As we moved along I could not help but think of how difficult such a trip was a few generations ago. I'm so thankful to be able to move through space in sweet comfort, with all sorts of snacks and good company. Life is so sweet.