My Curious Job

Sadly, the recession has swept my library aide away in its wake and I'm going to need help this year to be able to stay on top of everything that needs to happen daily in the library. One of my childhood friends emailed me the other day and said there was an announcement made at church that help was needed at my school, including in the library. Knowing that I'm the library teacher, she emailed me and said she'd be willing to help for about an hour a week but she'd have to be careful about not missing too much work lest they think she is dispensable. In other words, she didn't want to jeopardize her own job in helping me with my job.

What a curious job I have. We teachers ask other people to leave their own jobs and other responsibilities to come and help us. When have I ever come and helped any of you do YOUR jobs? When have you ever asked me? I know one of my sisters-in-law has helped out in her son's school library. And many of you moms have probably helped with class parties at school, substituted, helped cut out things, put up bulletin boards, helped in class during centers or rotations, or in a myriad of other ways. But have you ever asked your children's teachers to help you out with your job?

I'm grateful for the thousands of adults who are willing to volunteer to make sure that schools are successful...especially since I am personally the recipient of that help. But I still think it's rather strange that mine is possibly one of the only jobs where people will leave their own jobs to come and help me do mine! It makes me think that schools are underfunded but people REFUSE to let them fail because of the lack of funding and are willing to step up and fill in the holes. People are amazing!

Seattle vs. FREE Utilities

I replaced 4 sprinkler heads today (dad would be proud of me!) because the inevitable is coming...dastardly hot days. I've heard many people complaining that Salt Lake is beginning to look and feel more like Seattle with all the rain we've had in the past few weeks.

When was the last time you saw my lawn so green? Thank you, Heavenly Father, for watering my lawn! Notice anything missing in the back...like a BILLION tomato plants and corn that should be knee-high by now? There ARE 4 plants in the garden, but not on the grand scale this yard is used to seeing.

My take on this rainy season is not "this is WAY too much rain" and "when will this ever end?". I look at it as FREE UTILITIES!!! Have you looked at your water bill compared to last year's? Way down! How about your electricity bill? Way down! No A/C needed yet. In fact, I just plain turned my furnace and A/C off about a month ago and haven't paid for the use of either one. I'd be good with this weather most of the summer. But alas, the smothering heat is on its way. Never fear, I'm prepared...

Just an FYI: this site http://wildlife.utah.gov/peregrine/ has a webcam on the 2 juvenile peregrine falcons that are supposedly going to "fly the coop" any day starting June 30. They're fun to watch!

Connecting

I went to a barn dance this weekend in Hooper. It was a blast!


EVERYONE got involved-old, young, VERY young, moms, dads, grandpas, grandmas, youth, dancers, non-dancers-stomping around out in the dirt-packed arena, twirling together and LOVIN' IT!

People gathering together to spend a Saturday evening of good, clean, country-style fun. Lots of good food, dancing, and sitting around shootin' the breeze with friends and neighbors.

Yes, it was a real barn with real horses.

And don't forget the "horse races" for the little buckaroos on their stick ponies.
As my friend and I drove back to the big city, we were thinking about how this kind of old-fashioned get-together makes people feel so much more connected than the way we tend to connect with each other today...electronically. It's kind of like the old-fashioned way that city folk used to get together on their porches in the evenings. I'll take a barn dance or porch sittin' any day over Facebook, emails, Twitter, or even blogs (like THIS one!)

We Stand on the Shoulders of our Ancestors

President Hinckley said that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. No, Daniel, he didn't mean that you should LITERALLY stand on top of Grandma and Grandpa MacKay.


We visited the Salt Lake City Cemetary and Wasatch Lawns this weekend to decorate the graves of those whose shoulders we stand on. And if we stand tall, it is because of them.


President Hinckley also said that each generation is a link in a long chain of our family. He encouraged us to be a strong link in that chain. I once had the thought that if we take the best attributes of our parents' marriages and parenting skills, and then add on something new and better to hand down to our children, just think what wonderful marriages and parents we would have after only a few generations. I'm grateful that a long, strong chain of faith has been handed down to me.

Here are some cool polished rocks that MacKay and Daniel brought for dad's grave.

Oops! This one looks like we were there to put flowers on mom's grave. Sorry mom!

3 (sort of) Related Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts I had at church today. Stay with me to the end. They ARE related to each other in some way.



First, in the latest General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott said, "I have seen that many times individuals have made great sacrifices to go to a distant temple. But when a temple is built close by, within a short time, many do not visit it regularly." I find this to be true. Because I can go to several temples at no great sacrifice to me, I tend to not make the effort to go very often. My thinking is, "I can go anytime". And often a month goes by without me going ANYTIME. It's too easy. It's too convienent.


Secondly, we were talking in Primary about how the early saints were commanded to gather to Kirtland, Ohio. As we discussed why it's important for the saints to gather, I told the girls about my experience of being completely separated from the church while I was in Mali. That experience made me realize what a blessing it is to meet with others of common faith each Sunday. We teach each other. We are strengthened by each other. The first Sunday after I came back home, I cried as I sang with my Relief Society sisters. I was honored at the chance to take the sacrament. I was amazed at how the testimonies of other people filled me up. Now I've been back for 5 years from Mali and I'm afraid I've fallen into the same old pattern of taking those precious things for granted again...or as the children say "taking them for granite".

These two thoughts reminded me of a time in my scripture study when I began to notice how the Lord commands the people of the Book of Mormon over and over to REMEMBER. So how do we make sure that we are remembering things that are important to us?

The REAL Artist

I've been thinking that the real artist of most beauty is the Creator. Man tends to paint or photograph mostly what God has created. How many things do we actuallly create? We spend much of our time copying what God created.

And look at this cute little creation of God.

Going Home

What would you do if you knew you were going to die next Monday? What if you got to pick the day you die? What if you knew, without a doubt, that it was your time to die? What if you knew for sure that Father wanted you home now? How would you spend your time? What loose ends would you need to tie up? What arrangements would need to be made? Who would you want there with you when you die? Would you be scared to step into the unknown? Is there anything you have not done in your lifetime that you'd want to do before Monday?

These are things I've been thinking about for the past few weeks. There's a young couple in our ward and the wife has chosen to die next Monday. Few people get to choose the day they die and have the luxury of preparing for it. This young couple are probably in their mid twenties and the wife has Lou Gehrig's disease. She has been on life support for probably over a year. She sent a letter to many ward members the first week of January telling them of her decision to be taken off life support and inviting them to a big party in celebration of her life at Thanksgiving Point last Saturday. She knows that she has been called home and now is the time. She will be taken off life support on Monday.

In many ways, I think this transition will be much more difficult for her husband than for her. It seems that it's harder when you are the one left behind...in death, in friends or family moving away, in long absences. Her husband has cared for her every need for over a year, feeding her, clothing her, working from home so he could take care of her, even learning how to put on her make-up.

In some ways I think it's better not to know the date and time when your life will end because you just go on living normally until the surprise comes. It seems more momentous when you can plan for it.

I would hope that if I got to choose my departure date that I wouldn't feel like I had to run around fixing anything. I hope that I have been fixing things along the way so that I wouldn't have any regrets.

I guess it doesn't really matter how long or short your life is, the only thing that matters is how you lived it. How you treated other people, how you followed your convictions and were true to yourself, how you tried your hardest to obey God, how you strove to be a better person by pushing yourself, setting goals, and always trying to learn new things.

By the way, I have a living will somewhere in a box in my basement.

I LOVE WINTER!!

I know that people think I'm crazy when I tell them my favorite season is winter...but it's true! I think that a blanket of fresh snow makes everything look so stunning. I love it when light hits the snow just right and it sparlkes. Snow feels quiet to me. It even dulls the sound of the bustle of traffic. It feels calming. As if it's saying, "Slow down." And it DOES make us slow down, literally. When we're driving in it and walking in it.
Winter feels cozy to me. It makes me want to snuggle in a blanket and drink hot chocolate. I like it when the skin on your face tightens up when you go outside. It's magical that you can see your breath as you exhale. I was talking to my former Chinese professor, Zhu Yong Min, just a few weeks ago and he says he really misses winter in Salt Lake now that he has moved to California. He talked about feeling your face tighten up when you go out.

When I say I love snow, someone inevitably asks me if I like to drive in it. And the answer is yes! I don't like driving in it with other people--stupid people, like the guy who rear ended me a few years ago because he was tailgating me one morning when it was VERY slippery. But when I can stay far away from other cars, I like the challenge of driving in the snow.

I don't have to do yardwork during the winter or "pretend" like I'm gardening. Even though I do have to shovel snow, it comes at random and unpredictable times. Not like mowing and watering the lawn that you have to do regularly...or pay the price of a ratty-looking yard if you don't keep up with it.

I love living in a place where there are 4 distinct seasons. When you're tired of a long, cold Winter, the Spring is all that much more welcome and delightful. How can you appreciate the delicious warming of Spring if you have never known the biting cold of winter? I think that those who pass through cold Winters have much more appreciation for the Spring when it comes.