Singing and Bonding

I know I've said this before, but I'm not much of a singer.  In spite of that, I am in a local singing group that actually sings for pay.  You read that right.  Our little group sings at various convalescent groups, assisted living and community groups and they actually pay us for this.  We sing through a half hour program every spring and every Christmas.  Or so I am told.  We are now in the midst of our spring program.  Our theme is money, so every song addresses it.  In spite of former complaints about singing in the choir, I am enjoying singing with this group.  Perfection is not required; fun is.  There is a lot to be said for bringing happiness to other people.  Our group seems to be pretty good at that.  At the end of our season (which is the end of this month), our proceeds will go to a charity of our choice.  This year part of it goes to a local doctor who travels all over the world correcting cleft palates.  As we sang through our money songs, it seemed quite fitting, at the end of our program on Saturday night for family and friends, to give some money to this fine doctor.  It was a feel-good kind of deal!

Our singing group at work:  The Treble Clef Singers

When I was a new member of the Church at 15 years of age, our newly baptized family of three (Daddy not included) became members of a ward in San Leandro, CA.  It was there that I met a girl named Phyllis Brennan.  She is Phyllis Salsedo now, and lives in Arizona, near all four of her children. On a whim, she decided to drive out here to Star to visit us.  She has been here since Wednesday, along with her two big dogs.  I'll admit to dreading the dog part.  But her dogs have been very good boys, spending most of their time in the dog cages they stayed in during the car trip.  They actually seem to like being cozily settled in the back of her van, looking out at the residential sights.

Me and Phyllis

I drove Phyllis through our countryside and our city and told her much of what I know about this place.  Philly is a woman of impulse.  She decided that she'd like to live here!  So we spent much of Saturday looking at potential homes for her and her dogs, with our real estate agent, Peggy.  She found a home she likes and is wasting no time trying to figure out how she can buy it and move here.  I'm amazed at her eagerness to move away from the place she has called home for 20 years; to leave her family and her job and come up here.  Wow.  Wait.  We just did something like that.  But it took us awhile to actually move.  Phyllis is ready to move right now.  I had to tie her down a bit and remind her that there are things she needs to think about and arrange before she jumps into this totally new place.  So I think she'll give it a day or two.

Our stake president met with Layne and officially gave him a reprieve from being a patriarch.  "Now you can go on a mission, if you'd like," he told him.  So now I wonder; is this what the Lord would have us do now?  I fight with myself over this.  I have a strong desire to get our family records in order; to get a legacy for our family ready to pass on to them.  My biological clock is ticking:  my years left on this earth are now clearly seen to be short

Flowers from our yard!  Since we had none at our other
house, these seem quite wonderful.

.  The family history/legacy thing hangs over me like a heavy cloud.  I long to get it under control.  It feels like there will be freedom and open highways once that task is under control.  So, should that be done first, or should we throw that on the shelf once again and go on another mission?  I just don't know.