Roots

One of my fondest dreams is to see as many corners of the earth and meet as many interesting people as I can before I die. But I also love reaching my roots deep into our own community. When we come together, we are truly greater than the sum of our parts.

Until this week, I had no idea that we had a special needs baseball league, and that we could volunteer to be buddies with the players. Our neighbor is working with the league for his Eagle Scout project and invited us to come help. What a joy to spend an hour celebrating every hit and run regardless of team.

After we got home, we walked to the Arts Park for the first day of the Art City Days carnival. Actually, we went specifically for the Kiwanis Club scone booth. Not a new treat, but an only-once-a-year treat. (And yes, perhaps eating out, but for a very good fundraising cause!)

Even though we walked to the park, we couldn't rationalize having homemade root beer with the scones. But while we stood in line, we enjoyed watching Jay Knight, Kiwanis Club president, making it.

Other booths we visited included the "will you support the pool and recreation center bond election in November" booth (yes!), the "will you help support the renovation of the old performing arts theater on Main Street" booth (yes!), and the "do you want to subscribe to the new town newspaper that has risen from the ashes of the old newspaper we are still mourning" booth (yes!).

Even though the town pool was already in desperately poor shape when we moved here 17 years ago, and even though the bond election to replace it could go either way (sadly my vote will only count once no matter how passionately I cast it), we made an extraordinarily good choice to put down roots in a community like this.

Down the Hobbit Path

Plans for Jack to sleepover with some favorite old friends later this week changed at the last minute, and to compensate we arranged an impromptu party at their house tonight.

After a feast of spaghetti and texas toast, the kids armed themselves for a nerf gun battle and the grownups headed out on a walk to make room for cake. We picked up the nearby Cedar Hills Parkway and spent a couple of miles enjoying perfect weather and the chance to catch up on everything.

It's a beautiful path that follows a canal as it winds through neighborhoods behind homes, cuts through the city park, and passes by one of the coolest tree forts ever.

We didn't catch a glimpse of any of the hobbits who must live there, though. Perhaps they were out walking to make room for cake, too.

Full Swing

When Jack was in first grade, his teacher told us about his amazing ability to turn anything into a toy, even scraps of paper left over from class projects. Summer is now in full swing, and so is Jack's imagination.

The other day I found Jack and his friend Brett hunched over an old National Geographic world map they'd spread out on the coffee table, plotting their global domination with pebbles and old foreign coins.

This morning Jack and his friend Josh repaired this ocean liner, which was scattered in a hundred pieces they salvaged from the ocean--er, entryway--floor.

Late this afternoon we discovered that the neighbors across the street had a truckload of sand delivered to their backyard. Jack helped Miles and Daphne build an entire city, including underground tunnels, highways, and pyramids. With only a break for dinner, they worked until the sun went down.

When Jack had trouble finding all of his cars in the fading daylight, he ran home to get an old metal detector that his friend Josh gave him when his family got a new one. It turned them up easily, and now the kids are meeting up tomorrow to play more games with the metal detector.

Speaking of people passing things on to Jack--something that inexplicably happens all of the time!--here's his latest treasure, acquired from our friends' new house: two old wooden military supply boxes that had been used by the previous owners as planters. Jack's eyes lit up when he discovered our friends didn't want them. He immediately saw all sorts of possibilities and jumped in straightaway to help empty out all of the dirt, which our friends will be using for the mud pie kitchen they're making in their backyard.

We loaded the boxes in the back of the Jeep, brought them home, and Roger and Jack spent an hour scrubbing them. Jack hopes I'll be convinced nothing is nesting in them so he can put them in his room. We'll see. We googled the information stamped on the boxes; they were made in 1947 to transport napalm bombs from Boston to Denver.

Can life get any more exciting than that when you're a 12-year-old boy and school is out for the summer?

Oh, yeah! Now it's after 10:00 and I've got to go track Jack down somewhere in the neighborhood. He's out playing night games with Cooper, Zoe and the gang, and he has to get up really early for swimming lessons.

Drive

Jack stepped up over and over today, passing the sacrament at church for the very first time and then spending more than an hour after church going from home to home in the neighborhood collecting fast offerings to help people in need, again a first for him.

Jack's drive to work hard doing good was rewarded with a relaxing Sunday afternoon drive all the way around Utah Lake. We could not have asked for better weather for an adventure in our roofless Jeep.

Here are a just a few of our unexpected pleasures along the way.

The dusty sagebrush hills all along the west side of the lake were sprinkled with bright orange blossoms.

The snowy mountaintops provided a stunning backdrop for acre after acre of orderly rows of fruit trees in Goshen.

Our inspiring picnic spot at the south end of the lake included a nice breeze to keep the bugs away.

It was a good day today for our little family.

Close Your Eyes and Tap Your Heels

We helped our good friends and their three little girls move into a new house that will be a magical place for their family. It wasn't as easy as tapping our heels, and they've got plenty of hard work ahead of them to get all settled in, but they're well on their way to creating a no place like home.

On the Roof

For our first Friday night under our new austerity rules, we headed to the free rooftop concert in Provo tonight. Inspiring venue (up on the roof it almost feels like a real city!) and very fun music.

It wasn't our first concert at the top of the Provo Town Square parking terrace, and it wasn't the first time we've heard Mindy Gledhill, a well known local singer/songwriter, perform. But it was the first time we heard Meaghan Smith, who is from Ontario, Canada.

Meaghan Smith recently won the 2011 Juno Award for New Artist of the Year. One of her big claims to fame is having a song on the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack. Here's a video of her song from the movie, Here Comes Your Man:

Austerity

So our last two credit card bills were a bit painful to pay off. Trips east, major car repairs, birthdays, a visit to the vet that was twice what I thought it would be (I didn't realize I was being quoted a price per cat, not the total for the two of them!).

Austerity measures are now in force for the balance of the month of June: no purchases that are not very carefully considered, and particularly no eating out without a very special reason.

Luckily we've already paid for a few upcoming treats so we won't feel totally deprived. Jack will have his swimming lessons, his first at the Springville pool. Roger and I will have a Park City getaway thanks to my very first Groupon purchase. And I've got a plane ticket for Boston in July for my very first high school reunion (that I'll attend, that is).

I always feel better when I've got a plane ticket in my possession.

At the Post Office

It's apparently in my nature to strike up conversations with people I don't know. I love meeting new people and learning about them--what they are interested in, projects they're involved in, ideas they have.

So when I overheard a conversation between a customer and the postal service worker about mail order chicks (as in chickens, not brides), I had to jump in. Even though I'm not thinking about owning chickens myself, I'm interested in the idea of urban chicken ownership and other ways people use their land to sustain themselves. And I'm interested in the politics of it all. Why, for example, was it okay to own chickens in Salt Lake City, but not more rural Salt Lake County for many years? (The ordinance was recently changed, by the way.)

Anyway, as we talked about chickens, the customer and I realized we already knew each other from the bookstore many years ago. She remembered specific books I had recommended to her, and I remembered a conversation we had about community gardening.

She told me about her business focused on nutrition and real food and a recipe book she'd published (she was at the post office mailing off copies to her customers). I told her that I'd just today read a Michael Pollan interview about debunking food myths and bookmarked it to share with my college writing students to teach them how easily scientific research can be oversimplified and distorted to support various agendas. (By the way, I teach that as a warning to students as they research--encouraging them to seek out the original studies--not as a technique for them to use in their own writing!)

She told me about her trips to Haiti and her interest in micro-financing. I told her about the book I was just reading last night called The Blue Sweater. She told me that the author, Jacqueline Novogratz, is one of her personal heroes. And then we bonded over Jacqueline's TED talks and, well, all TED talks.

As I write this it occurs to me that she actually does things while I just think and read about them. Hmmm. Well, I did tell her I'd help her lobby Springville City government to loosen up restrictions so people in any neighborhood can own chickens if they want to, not just in neighborhoods zoned for agriculture. If Salt Lake City lets people own chickens, why not Springville?

So fun to have a new (old) acquaintance!

Lucky

Jack received one of his summer projects in the mail today: a math workbook. Isn't he lucky?

We made some feeble attempts early on in elementary school to give Jack "homework" over the summer to keep his brain juices flowing, but none of us were disciplined enough to follow through in any meaningful way. Now the stakes are higher with junior high looming in the near future. Discipline is paramount.

So exactly how lucky is Jack? Once he finishes chapter 4, "Finding Percents," I'll have him calculate the answer.

Part Two: The Ideal

Though our gang of house guests was getting organized to head off to their geology field camp this morning, we did have time to take one of them, Henok, up the canyon to see freshly fallen snow. He is from Ethiopia, is studying at a university in Florida, and he had never seen snow except on mountain peaks. What a happy new adventure! He even built his first snow man!

We met Henok barely 24 hours ago, and it's unlikely our paths will cross again in person. But now we have this wonderful shared experience, we've peeked into each others' lives, and we have gained a larger understanding of a world which isn't really so large.

I wish the same for everyone. Can you imagine the power in that "to nibble away at whatever anger there is in the world"?

Part One: The Real

I am full of gratitude for all of the people who face the harsh and unbearable realities of war for the sake of others. I am also full of yearning for a world in which their sacrifice is unnecessary.

Twice this Memorial Day weekend I found myself tagging along with Roger and Jack to target practice. Both times we drove to the mountains--once to the east and once to the west--and found spots where they could shoot and I could enjoy a beautiful view while I read a book. Both times I brought the copy of Emma Lou Thayne's memoir I bought last weekend.

Both times, with the sound of gun shots and bullets hitting the hillside in the background, I happened to be reading sections of the book in which she wrote about her work for world peace--standing against nuclear proliferation in the face of swelling fear during the cold war at great risk to her reputation in a conservative community, traveling to the Soviet Union as a poet emissary, gaining insight from a friend who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq to meet his five-month-old son for the first time.

"I must find ways still to nibble away at whatever anger there is in the world," she wrote, now well into her eighties, beautifully articulating something I have also felt driven to do.

Is it ironic, then, that I'm glad Jack is learning how to handle a gun safely and well?

One morning when he was two, engrossed in his breakfast and an episode of Sesame Street, I was engrossed in the unfolding coverage of 9/11. Every once in a while I'd glance at him, wishing with all of my heart that he could stay in that innocent moment. But the reality is that Jack has never been conscious of a time his country has not been at war.

Through the years, I have watched him battle friends with light sabers and nerf dart guns. I have gradually let him into the world of strategic video games. I have read books to him like Ender's Game, The City of Ember, and The Hunger Game trilogy, using them as springboards to talk about things like power and fear and morality in conflict.

And through the years, I've had the niggling thought in the back of my mind that Jack needs these things, the play and the fiction. If I shelter him too much--the big-hearted boy who organized a Save the Penguins campaign at school and who made me stop reading Roald Dahl's Danny Champion of the World because it glorified poaching--I risk sending him out unprepared.

Yesterday, Jack told me about his friend's older brother registering for the selective service. He is aware. The real world is becoming more real.

House Guests

Dad left yesterday, and cousin Sarah and her daughter Sofia arrived today from Florida! They're towing along with them a trailer full of scientific gear and three geology grad students and instructors (one from Pittsburgh, one from France, and one from Ethiopia). They will be heading to the San Rafael Swell to do some field research for the next couple of weeks.

We love being base camp for Sarah's research trips.

Running Away, Running Toward, Just Running

Last month I spoke at my brother's memorial service. For some reason I don't understand, I keep having a nagging feeling about something I wish I had said then. So as we head into Memorial Day weekend, I will put it out into the universe by saying it here.

About five years before he died, my brother Robbie ran away to Africa. At least it seemed to me like he was running away. His life had become overwhelming, and he didn't want to--or maybe couldn't--face it anymore. Over these last five years, though, I've come to believe that some part of him was instinctively running toward something. Something that would be a balm to his troubled soul.

Robbie would call or email me from Nairobi from time to time, usually with frantic requests to help him settle some unresolved issue from his past. But every once in a while, he'd send a simple message to tell me about some happy experience he had. Almost always those experiences were connected to a Kenyan family into which he had been welcomed warmly. Sometimes he sent pictures, usually of children in the family, but never of himself.

I didn't see Robbie's face for five years.

When my dad flew to Nairobi in January to see Robbie in the hospital, talk with his doctors, and begin to make arrangements to fly him home to Boston, he was able to meet Robbie's adopted Kenyan family. They gave him three photographs of Robbie taken before he got sick. In each of the photos, Robbie has a broad smile, which I believe is evidence that he found what he was running toward.

Today I ran the 5k that I signed up for shortly after returning home from my brother's service, wanting, somehow, to take more conscientious charge of my life and face challenges I often don't want to face.

Here I am smiling before the run.

And after.

In between? Just a lot of running. But run I did!

Intrepid

Here we are, the fearless hikers setting out on the 5-mile round trip Three Forks trail to the hot springs in Diamond Fork Canyon this morning. (Clockwise from left: Gramps, me, Jack, Jack's friend Cooper.)

The river we followed was extra high and fast.

Here's our picnic spot at the top of the trail. The waterfall in the background is usually just a trickle, and bathers enjoy the upper hot springs behind us. But with all the spring run off, the pools were cold and wild.

The lower pools were more protected. Jack was the only one of us who braved the water.

And then the girls in bikinis showed up. (Photo not available.)

The Last Last Day

Today was Jack's very last day of elementary school, and this is a picture of the very last time he will come home on a school bus. He'll be a walker in junior high and high school.

I have such mixed feelings about Jack moving on. I'm excited for him, but then I unexpectedly teared up as the sixth graders sang together for the last time in the end of year celebration in the school gym this morning. And I've been a bit emotional ever since.

I'm looking forward to knowing seventh-grade Jack, but I'm already missing sixth-grade Jack. He was pretty darn cool.

Off

The weather report finally looked good enough to risk it. We usually have the roof off the Jeep much earlier in the spring, even though it means Roger has a chilly drive to work in the mornings. So much rain, rain, rain!

About 8:00 this evening, Roger made up an excuse for us to take a drive. We went to his parents' house to pick up a handful of his old record albums they came across today. The drive was exhilarating, and it is, of course, such a relief to have in our possession his high school memories of Boston, Kansas and Chuck Mangione on vinyl.

A Shot in the Arm

Literally. And actually three of them.

Up until now, I have never taken Jack to get immunized. Sweet Roger saved me the angst all these years. This afternoon, I decided to step up and take Jack for the shots he needs now that he is 12 and heading to junior high.

Roger always took him to the Utah County Health Department for his shots. When Jack was born, we had to meet a high deductible before our insurance company would cover any of the cost. Our pediatrician told us that the shots would be a lot less expensive if we got them at the health department. Plus we'd have the added benefit of getting the shots from someone who gives shots all day, every day. An expert.

We went back to the expert today. Jack didn't even flinch!

A Hike on the Wild Side

Today Dad and I volunteered to help Jack's class with a field trip. The school bus had far less leg room than I remember, but the ride was fun!

The original plan was hike to the Y on the side of the mountain (see straight above the "Do not enter" sign), but the weather was very unpredictable.

Plan B ended up involving far more wildlife than we would have seen on the hike. First we went to the BYU Paleontology museum (watch out, lady!).

Then we went to the BYU Monte L. Bean Life Science museum. I was going to pretend we ran into this bear while we were hiking to the Y, but since there is a reflection of a museum exhibit sign on the glass in front of him, I figured I couldn't pull it off.

Cancelled hike notwithstanding, we had a good adventure!

My Men

Today we had a very special birthday celebration for the four most important men in my life: my husband, my son, my father and my father-in-law.

All four of them were born in May, and all four of them were in our home enjoying birthday cake and ice cream together!

The reason we were all together today was to be with Jack for a very important rite of passage.

At 12, LDS boys begin serving others as deacons in the priesthood. Jack's new responsibilities as a deacon will include passing the sacrament on Sundays and collecting fast offerings once a month to help people in need.

It is a wonder to watch him being swept up in the spirit of brotherhood. Today so many good men who love Jack circled around him and laid their hands on his head while Roger ordained and blessed him.

Today was a very special day to be a wife, a mother, a daughter and a daughter-in-law.

The End Didn't Come Today, But Life Is Still Short

I met one of my writing heroes today.

Poet and essayist Emma Lou Thayne spoke for about an hour this afternoon in Salt Lake City at the King's English, one of my favorite independent bookstores.

As she shared some of her fascinating life experiences, she mentioned a saying from Thailand that she quoted in her recent memoir, The Place of Knowing: A Spiritual Autobiography.

"Life is so short we must live very slowly."

Her interpretation of living life slowly is to pay attention, and for her, writing provides a powerful way to pay attention.

At 86, she is in a place of knowing. At 47, I believe I am starting to learn how to get there.

Delivery

I crashed the Boy Scout Spring Camporee to deliver pizza to the boys. Too hard to resist when they are only a few miles up the canyon.

Now I'm back home getting the guest room ready for my dad. He's flying in tonight to spend an exciting week with us!

The Second Test

Technically, this happened yesterday, but writing about Jack was my priority.

I headed here for my very first drug screen:

I imagine I don't need to describe what they needed from me. They should have the results in 24-48 hours, and then I should get a call with my start date.

The nice part was chatting with the woman who took care of me. I had to provide my social security number, and she perked up when she saw that it begins with a zero. Here in the west that's pretty rare. It turned out that she also had a social security number that begins with a zero. I was born in Massachusetts; she was born in New Hampshire. We had fun swapping our stories about how we ended up here in Utah.

A Portrait of the [Boy] as a Young Man

Now that he is 12, Jack will be attending the Young Men/ Young Women group at church. I'm excited for him to spend time with the older kids. Many great examples for him.

Jack's first night happened to coincide with a scout court of honor. He received his Second Class rank.

Roger is one of the leaders of Jack's age group. It looks like Jack will be setting a mature example for him to follow.

It's so fun to watch Jack grow up and have new opportunities, but it's a bit of a kick in the gut to realize that he's now 2/3 of his way to being an adult.

What Have I Begun?

A double birthday celebration for Roger and Jack called for scrumptious individual cupcakes from The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe in Provo.

My first gourmet cupcake. I may need to be talked down.

Check

It's been nearly two months since I was offered a job, and I'm still in the process of getting all of the contingencies taken care of before I can start work.

Today I can report that I passed the background check. Tomorrow I will pick up the paperwork for a drug screen.

I think I'm getting close!

Learning from Paul

We had a real treat in church today. All of the men and boys 12 and up in the congregation were invited to the front of the chapel to sing for the rest of us. What made it particularly special was that they were led by Paul, a man with Down Syndrome. Because he was leading the music, his back was turned to us, but I heard many reports afterward that he had a broad smile on his face as they sang.

Paul often has a smile on his face, so it was easy to picture.

After church, I helped Jack with some memorization work he needs to complete as he turns 12 in a few days and graduates from Primary (children's Sunday School).

We finished our work with the LDS 13th Article of Faith, which draws in part from the teachings of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4:8 - " . . . whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Brother Paul, who joyously led men singing with a heart full of hope and faith, is an embodiment of the things apostle Paul was referring to.

Thank you, Paul and Paul. I will think on these things.

Squalls, Blocks and Bok Boks

For the second time this week, I experienced a huge rainstorm followed by a chicken sighting. Apparently that sequence of events is no longer new or out of the ordinary. But this time the rainstorm and the chickens were bookends for a very unusual event.

This afternoon we headed up to Salt Lake City in a furious downpour to attend a special party hosted by our niece Megan and her husband Scott. They had ordered an entire case of Lego minifigures (60 of them!) and also invited another family who are mutual friends of ours. We spent a blissful afternoon divvying up the stash, snarfing pizza and tasty Lego cookies that Megan made with mini marshmallows and brightly colored icing, and watching an animated Lego movie.


Jack scored an entire set plus a few extra sailors. His birthday has clearly begun four days early.


Just as we were about to leave, Megan mentioned that her parents now have chickens. Chickens! Since they only lived a couple of blocks away, we had to go see them before heading home.


I've never seen such an exceptional chicken coop in such a lovely setting.

"These Things Are Fun, and Fun Is Good"

Dr. Seuss was right: Fun is good, and lucky us had fun tonight!

First, Jack and I helped Roger take pictures of our friend Johnny and his pals--twelve couples in all, heading off to their Senior Ball.

After dinner at Five Guys, we headed to BYU to see a musical. We got there a bit early and discovered two Steinway grand pianos in a classroom. They were just right there, the pair. We had to play them.

Then we enjoyed watching Seussical the Musical from way up high in balcony seats. Jack wasn't sure he heard us right. Up high or a pie?

When the play was over, we headed to Baskin-Robbins for three of their 31 flavors. On our way home, we drove by Jimmy's Love Bug and discovered this amazingly pristine throwback. Of course the bus wasn't for us, but it was fun to see and fun is good!

Minds Will Soar

Note: This post was meant to go up yesterday (May 12) but Blogger was down.

As a member of the Library Board, I had the opportunity to tour the new library today! It is thrilling to see this new library come to fruition, and I think Springville will be a stronger community for it.

We are so lucky that we already have an amazing library despite the leaky, deteriorating, impossible-to-temperature-control space it is crammed into right now. Did you know that Springville Library recently beat Orem and Provo as best library in Utah County in a vote by Daily Herald readers?

Just imagine the possibilities that will be unleashed when the new library opens!

I believe so strongly in the concept of public libraries, which provide access to a wealth of information and knowledge to all citizens, regardless of their means. I also believe strongly in the power of beautiful architectural design to elevate our spirits and minds. I am thankful for all of the people who share these beliefs and are helping to make it possible.

We are an aspiring, forward-thinking people who are destined to achieve great things!

Out with the Old, In with the New

Thought it was about time to get some new shoes if I'm going to be serious about getting in shape for a 5k at the end of the month.

The shoes I've been using are literally older than Jack. Yeah. Not so good for the feet.

In fact, I probably should have invested in better shoes than I did today for the sake of my feet (and knees, and hips, and back), but I'm still reeling from the outsized bill I paid to reclaim our cats from the vet this afternoon.

Why is it that we humans are inclined to invest more in our loved ones than we invest in ourselves? This might be part of the answer: I read a review just today of Tom Shadyac's new documentary I Am, which sounds intriguing (do take a couple of minutes and watch the trailer). One tidbit Shadyac shares in the review is that Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man mentions "love" 95 times and "survival of fittest" just twice.

I say let's keep evolving!