Cousin Camp

Written on Sunday:
In my experience events never turn out the way they are planned; they are either better or worse. Our Cousin Camp filled our past week. It is our first attempt at getting the grandchildren together for an extended amount of time, with just Layne and me in charge. How grateful I am that no more than 7 were with us. They were enough to keep us hopping. But not doing the things we had anticipated and planned for. Those babes bonded over their own invented play. Their play came about from a book that Mom has entitled, Roxaboxen. It is about a group of children that create a town out of a nearby hillside, using all sorts of left-over things they found lying about. Our babes decided to do the same in a patch of dirt on the side of Mom's house. So, for 4 days, they played in the mud. They managed to pull themselves away for meals and the occasional activity that we had planned for them. Then it was back to the mud. You may imagine what kind of mess that created. There were mud statues, bowls, fences, ponds, pots and mud ovens, used to bake these treasures in the sun. Who could have predicted that this would be the preferred activity? If only we had known, some of our planning could have been avoided.

Not that I'm complaining. I'm glad that they had fun. And fun it was. They used their imaginations and ingenuity to create a world of good times. It can't get better than that. I see now, more clearly than ever, that getting cousins together in bunches doesn't do much for bonding with grandparents, but does great things for bonding with each other. It was fun to see them enjoy each others company. We were the work force. That had its place and I believe it is worth doing again. But for special grandparent-grandchild bonding, there needs to be a smaller number to deal with.

We had fun each evening as we told the children scripture stories and family stories. They seemed to enjoy both. We sang, talked, shared stories and on several nights, enjoyed a movie and popcorn. They are great kids. By Saturday morning, all were gone and we lapsed into quiet. There is much to do to clean things up but, oh, it is so quiet. I like having time back but I miss the grandkids, and my own kids. I suppose I just don't like being so far apart for so much of the time of our lives. Mom, too, misses them. She gets high on people. I guess I do too even though I also like solitude. I guess it is good to enjoy both.

I'm taking pastel lessons again. After the kids left, I worked on trying my hand at recreating an old photo of my dad and his mom (my granny). I need more practice, but you can see my first effort here.

This past week reminds me once again that relationships are what life is all about. They are the priority. It takes work to make good memories with the people in our lives, but is is the best investment of all.

Preparations

Before I had grandchildren I dreamed of the fun of having all of our future grandchildren over at one time for a week of "grandfolks camp". As usual, time passed quickly and now we have 19 grandchildren. But we've never had a grandfolks camp. Until now. My daughter-in-law Jessica has pressed me to do the camp. She is full of good ideas. So we invited all who could come to meet us here in Colorado, where we would entertain the grandchildren for 5 days. 7 of the kids can come.

We have spent this past week planning for them. Layne, once engaged, is full of good ideas. He has eliminated or refined most of my ideas and added some great ones of his own. And so, this week, we have a menu just for kids; days filled with activities, and nights with family stories and scripture stories. Since we've never done this before I'm a little nervous. Will the kids have fun? Will we build the bond with them that I hope for? Will they want to do this again? Will our plans work well?

Son Ben and wife Jessica (the one with the ideas) arrived last night. Their children are playing in the kiddy pool Layne put up for them. I am watching them from my comfortable chair on the deck. It is a lovely, hot Colorado summer day. The pool sits under a shade tree so it is a comfortable place to be. Layne and I sit idly now as the kids play before us. It is a happy spot we are in. Here are Jacqueline and Alexis sitting on a rock in Mom's back yard.

I am an idea person. I dream of many things in my mind. I begin some of them. My problem is that I finish very little. As I work on one project I think of another. And so it happens that I begin much and finish little. Inefficiency is a quality of creativity, it seems to me. I need to better divide my time between creativity and organization. I'd like to discipline myself to do more finishing. But not this week. This week belongs to 7 adorable kids. And Mama too, of course.

Mom and Things

Mom seems quite diminished since our last visit to Colorado. While my sister Maryanne and her hub Bob were here Mom got a touch of the flu. In addition, all three of them got involved in a minor car accident. Both of those things took their toll on Mom. She sleeps almost all of the time now. Her eyes look sunken and dark. She says much less. She has perked up a little since our arrival but it is hard to say if her present condition is temporary or a more permanent downturn. I keep studying her face, trying to read what is going on inside of her. She continues to say "I"m fine", when asked. How I hate to see her slide slowly down. Inside her body prison she is still the vibrant, amazing person she was. But it is hard to see now. She is mostly hidden away.

This place continues to offer its magical variety of wind and calm, sunny and cloudy exchanges in each day and occasional rain. As I sit on Mom's deck I look out on a lovely green pasture filled with grazing cows and all sorts of other life forms. An American flag peeks through the trees from a neighbor's yard. The sky is mostly cloudy with some potential rain collecting in some of them. Other parts of the sky offer sunshine on this Sunday evening. There is a soft wind blowing through my hair and the trees above me. All is peaceful here.

Here you see the side of Mom's house from the road.

In spite of all this peacefulness, I am finding it difficult to stick to just one project. I have a list of things I want to accomplish while enjoying this undemanding place. But my old habit of starting lots of things and finishing few hangs over me. What should I do first: sort some of Mom's accumulation of stuff (which badly needs to be done), finish Daddy's story, sort Mom's pictures and organize them, prepare for the arrival of 7-9 grandchildren next week, work on my pastel drawings? All call to me. Why can't I just settle down and get each done in some sort of order? Why am I such a chaotic thinker? Why do my ideas far outpace my performance?

I suppose that life will always have many mysteries. I am grateful for the piece of it that God has given me.

The Travel Begins

It seems such a short time ago that we sent our sons on their Church missions. But it wasn't. To prove that point, our grandson, Chase, is preparing to leave on his own mission to Boston. He went to the Temple for the first time this past week. It was quite special as he went during our temple shift on Wednesday. Even more special; I was assigned to work the very session he was in! I took pleasure in watching him during the ceremony and remembering my own thoughts when I entered the temple for the first time. Chase works at not showing his feelings on his face. And he's good at it. I think it is part of his masculine mask. But he is a person with deep and tender feelings. It was a joy to spend that temple time with him. He leaves in August.
Here we are with Chase in front of the Oakland Temple.

Our turn to spend time with Mom in Colorado came up last week. The day after our temple experience we started our travel adventure. We always fly stand-by. It is our only remaining perk from United Air Lines. We started our journey very early in the morning to be available for the most flights. We go first to Denver, then Grand Junction, then drive to Cedaredge. Little towns do not lend themselves to speedy travel. We anticipated that it would take all day to get there since we figured we'd miss several flights. Imagine our delight when we got on the first flight to Denver in spite of an oversold airplane! Then, miracle that it was, we actually made our next flight into Grand Junction on the first try! So we arrived early in the day, a most amazing accomplishment. It was all smooth as can be, except for the stress of not knowing that it would be as smooth as can be.

My sister Maryanne and her hub Bob have been caring for Mom for most of June. They did a great job in spite of Mom getting sick and the three of them getting into a minor car accident. They did have their adventures. Mom looked quite diminished when we arrived. She was thinner, duller and less responsive. But she is on the mend. Still, she is not the girl she was. I see her failing, slowly, but surely. All we can do is care for her and love her. I was so wishing that she would be able to live her life fully until she was called home. But that is not to be. I hope that she will be able to move to the next world gently. That is my great wish for her now.
Here is Layne looking out Mom's kitchen window at a summer thunder storm. I love these storms! Imagine what our California garden would be like if only we could enjoy regular summer storms like this one.

It is July 4th. I love this holiday that celebrates freedom. I feel we are fast losing the freedoms celebrated for so many years. But I still rejoice in what we have left and the blessing of living in America. God has been good to our land and our people. I'm grateful. We celebrated at Church and watched my favorite patriotic movie, 1776. I feel in my heart that God was at the core of the thoughts and dreams that brought about the establishment of our Constitution and the United States of America. In spite of the weaknesses of many in powerful positions over the years, we still have the most amazing country the world has ever known. We must protect and preserve it!