Fun With the Ostlers

Layne turned 75 last Monday.  As his twin reminded him, that is the age at which both his father and grandfather died.  Hum.  Could he really be old enough to die?  Could I?  It doesn't seem so.  Not until I consider how old we really are.  But I'm not worried.  Somehow I feel full of life and still very connected to this mortality.  I feel that there are still things to do here.  But I'm beginning to feel an urgency about getting them all done.

When I was younger I longed for what I would call a "balanced" friendship; one where the give and take between us was somewhere around equal.  As the years have passed I have found a few friends that fit that model.  One of them is Trudy Ostler.  I met Trudy and her husband Bill in Fremont, California, where we worked together on various Church projects.  We seemed to find a meeting of the minds on most things and tended to think down the same mental roads.  We understood one another and seemed to have very similar life experiences and goals.  Bill and Trudy moved to St. George, Utah.  We eventually moved here to Star, Idaho.  Because we enjoyed our shared mental journey our friendship has continued.  And so we have developed a tradition:  every year since we have moved here they visit us and we visit them.  In between visits we rarely talk, but when we are together, things pick up where we last left off.  There is little need to become reacquainted.  It just so happens that Bill and Layne are very compatible as well.  So our visits have been so pleasant and fun.

The Ostlers arrived for their yearly visit on Layne's birthday.  We celebrated with his requested dinner and dessert.  Every birthday Layne says he doesn't want anything.  Every year I try to find him something anyhow.  It has to be useful.  This year I decided on sunglasses.  His favorites are years and years old.  It just so happens that his old ones broke several days before his special day.  So the gift I offered seemed to fit perfectly into his needs.  Score!  It is rare so I've got to brag.

This is the first house built in Idaho City, an hour north of us, and it was built by Galbraiths!  Gotta be related.  Its located next to a blacksmith shop, seen to the right in this photo.

We spent a fun-filled week with Bill and Trudy.  We saw the movie, The Martian (very good), toured the almost ghost town of Idaho City, went ATVing, and, most daring of all, we went zip lining.  I was too chicken to zip line at our July reunion, but decided to try it, since all I read about the company here was encouraging.  We took a leap of faith and reserved a spot on Wednesday.  I admit right now that standing on a platform high above the ground was a bit unnerving.  And I admit that leaping off of said platform was even more so.  But I was not about to let anyone know that I was so nervous.  So I made the leap.  Over and over.  Because I did it, so did my chicken husband, Layne.  Bill and Trudy leaped with pure delight.  By the end of the experience my fears were somewhat dissipated and it became sort of fun.  Perhaps I can do it again.  Sometime.

Here we are, gathered, confidently, for our first zip line adventure.

We are standing on top of the first zip line platform, safely connected to the wire cording you see around the tree.

First zip line challenge:  cross the bridge.  For us greenies it was challenging.  I am leading here, with Layne following.

Here's Layne, newly arrived from a zip.  "Zippin'" the worker with us called it.

There are two zip lines here.  Layne is on the left, I'm on the right.  We are about to race to the other end.  As you might imagine, the heaviest guy wins.  I not only lost, but didn't have enough momentum to make it to the very end and slid slowly back to the middle of the zip.  I had to be rescued by grabbing onto a rope and being pulled to the end by our young worker.  It was quite a workout for him.  Kinda embarrassing actually.

Our three days together came to a quick end when Bill and Trudy drove off Friday morning.  We will see them again in the spring, when we visit them in St. George.  I'm looking forward to it.

We will be finished with our pornography mission in another month.  During our two years doing this we have been asked to speak about it three times.  Three times in almost 2 years.  Now that we are in our last month, we have three more speaking assignments, all this month!  How strange is that?  Layne is very ready to be finished with addiction. I don't think he will miss it.  But I will.  The women I work with every Sunday night have been an inspiration to me and, in many ways, have changed my life.  I'm grateful to be ever learning what appears to me to be important concepts.  After tonight, theoretically we have just 3 or 4 more addiction meetings.  Wow.  Then what?