Out of the Rut

Today was not an ordinary day. Nothing really exciting, but it took me to places I don't usually go and I found it all extremely pleasant. Especially because it was warm enough today to be out and about without a coat.

Jack woke up on his own this morning and got dressed before my alarm went off. That has happened maybe twice before. Maybe.

I had an appointment with one of the sixth grade classes at Jack's school to interview them for the next issue of our PTA newsletter at 9:40 (when recess was over). When I got to the school I discovered that all of the students were attending an assembly. Could I come back in half an hour?

So to kill a bit of time I took my guitar to get new strings. I bought the guitar in a small shop on Center Street in Provo--The Great Salt Lake Guitar Company--so I took it there. It's one of those small businesses that reflects the owner's passions: making guitars and making people happy by selling them guitars. (Just for the record I don't have a hand-made guitar; he sells factory-made guitars as well).

He said my guitar would be ready in an hour so I drove back to Jack's school to meet up with the sixth grade class. Perfect timing; they were just coming in from recess after the assembly. A really great group of students and a really neat teacher (I hope she's still teaching sixth grade when Jack gets there). Six of the kids in the class are working on redesigning the school website. They actually had to apply for specific "jobs" by submitting resumes and interviewing with the teacher.

After I was done with the sixth grade, I stopped by Jack's math class to give him a hug (he's still okay with that, but would have seriously protested if I'd tried to kiss him too) and then spent way too much money filling up the gas tank in our Jeep.

I had a bit of time to kill before my guitar would be ready, so I stopped by the Waldenbooks at the mall. I found both of the books I was looking for (Peter and the Starcatchers and Three Cups of Tea). I also made a very satisfying impulse buy: Firstlight by Sue Monk Kidd who wrote The Secret Life of Bees. Firstlight is a collection of some of her early autobiographical spiritual writings.

Back to the guitar shop just in time, and the new strings sound fabulous. I spent half an hour talking to the owner about the best and worst parts of being a small retail shop owner. We both love developing relationships with customers and hate paying property tax on fixtures and supplies.

Then I stopped at the grocery store for some provisions and to satisfy a new craving I bought really good bread and tomatoes along with some mozzerella to make paninis.

After lunch I picked Jack up at school and took him to Representative Chris Cannon and Senator Bob Bennett's offices in Provo to do some research on a trip we're hoping to take to DC. I don't think either office was used to having constituents drop by. They were very nice to us, but mostly referred us to their website and their DC offices. Did you know that you now have to arrange a White House tour six months in advance and get a security background check? Luckily, visiting the White House is not on our priority list.

On the way home we picked Johnny and Benny up from the China Cafe, but instead of going home we went to the park. Who knows how many more coatless days we'll have?