The Recovery

Life is full of extremes.  We went from being wildly busy with the family masses to empty quiet.  I enjoy both with their several gifts.  Quiet was especially nice this past week or so as I needed some recovery time from the Layne-bug mentioned earlier.  I managed to be over it in about three days, thankfully.  We spent much of our recovery time cleaning up and getting things back to normal.  As in younger years, I felt a little nostalgic as I put things away.  Of course there was a pile of things the kids forgot.  Slowly I have managed to get most of it returned.

Grandkids' sleeping accommodations during Cousin Camp.

Breakfast with some of the Cousin Camp gang.

We had a couple of sweet surprises this past week.  Long time friends Byron and Marcia Dansie visited for a few hours.  Sadly, I forgot to get a photo of them.  We had babies together and have become close friends over the years.  They are some of the pure in heart that I love having in my life.

Saturday of last week our stake celebrated Pioneer Day at the Pleasanton Fair Grounds.  We found ourselves there because Layne was asked to MC the event.  So we arrived early and left late; not our usual activity level at these things.  Layne did a masterful job.  In between his MC gab we sat at a picnic table eating our dinner.  Our second surprise came in the form of a young lady we didn't know who approached and sat with us.  She was very outgoing and full of chatter.  We discovered that she was in the Army reserve and assigned to our area for two weeks of active duty.  She lives in Arizona and her  name is Amanda.  After telling us much about her life, she said that she was "shopping for dinner appointments" for Sunday and Monday!  We were a little taken aback by her approach, but we invited her to dinner on Monday.  She came, and brought our friend Anne Kelly with her.  We had a fun evening together and I came to like her very much.  Her outreach was not my style of getting acquainted but I admired her for it.  It reminds me that I need to be a bit more outgoing and aggressive in getting to know more people.  I feel that my soul and Amanda's touched.  I found it joyful.

Anne Kelly and Amanda Goff, our Monday dinner guests.

Son Ben had nose surgery this past week.  His nose has been pretty much inop since his birth.  Doctors attempted to fix it when he was a little boy, but were unsuccessful.  This time he had his deviated septum fixed and tonsils out.  He asked me to pick him up after the surgery.  He's got two weeks off for recovery.  I'm excited to see how he feels when he takes a full breath through his nose.  It's coming.

Benjamin, recovering from surgery, with littlest son Jonathan.

During this recovery time, he told me that he wanted to buy me a new Apple laptop, as a thank you for the work we have done for him on his rental condo.  I was surprised and sooo excited!  You know how one change leads to others.  I now need an updated printer and scanner as well! So I picked those out, Ben and I picked out the computer, and by next week, I should have a whole new system.  How exciting is that!