At times it is difficult for me to sit down and write about the everyday things that are going on in our world. At other times it is impossible for me to stop. The last week has been one of former. It is not like nothing happened that was important only that I did not feel like sitting down and writing about it – at least not at the time. Another problem I have is trying to play catch-up – my memory seems to get twisted around so I am never sure that what I write is what actually happened. Of course once I write it down it becomes the truth unless someone else corrects me. That soon gets into a major philosophical discussion that I will just as soon leave alone.
Saturday the 21st was a really nice day. I spent the morning working in the yard. Steven Kay came over about 10 and finished up what we had started yesterday. The weather was cool but nice. The Mitchell’s arrived sometime after 1:30 – I know that because the Cal game had already started. After they arrived Mike settled in to watch the game – I had recorded the start so he did not miss a play – and Tyler, Krista and Cindy went out and gathered up the leaves I raked up the day before. I went out and joined them – not in the work but just to talk. ***As I look out now – a week later – the lawn and driveway are once again covered in leaves***
Around 4, Bob, Lisa, Gentry, McKay and Rachel joined us and the rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent fixing and eating dinner, playing Phase 10, watching Cal manage to win their game in overtime and having Mike’s birthday party. The hit of the presents was Cindy’s gift. It was a lawn sculpture that shot flames. Luckily we had a bottle of fuel that worked so we got to see it in action.
All in all it was a really nice family day.
Sunday, since Gordon was out of town, I got to go to the early leadership meetings. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it. I think the fact that I knew I did not have to do it on a regular basis helped. In the afternoon I went to visit one of my HT families. It was one of those times when I was glad I had the experience of being a bishop. I spent quite some time listening to the problems the family was having and giving some counsel. After I got home I called the bishop and he was already aware of most of what was going on. We talked some about what I could do to help. Mary was busy for much of the day working on an extraction package that she has had for a number of years. When I look at what she must read to try and figure out, I see nothing but a mess. But she has reached a point where she can make sense out of the blurred writing. I doubt I will ever hand the patience to do extraction.
Monday was a get ready day. We took the car down to Doug’s to have it serviced. Later we went to the distribution center where I bought the garments I would need for our mission and Mary found she had to order them from Salt Lake. I spent a part of the day cleaning up my music room. I had let it become a real mess with stacks of books, papers, cds, and other things everywhere. I would not say that I got it really clean but at least I can walk across it without watching where I step. In the evening we went over to the MTC to try and take part in the evening lesson. When we got there we found out that they did not have class. But the trip was not wasted because Mary made a copy of a chart in the room that shows how prefixes and suffixes are used. Later in the evening we packed up for our trip to Oregon.