Anchors

"Sons are the anchors of a mother's life."

                         --Sophocles, Greek playwright

Yes, I like this, and having one who just left the nest, i am realizing what an anchor he was, is, in my life.  

Couch vs. Lawdy

Ten Flat Miles. Ha! Take that!

Counting My Blessings, i.e. Feeling Sad

1. Lucy crawled into bed with me and snuggled up for an afternoon nap.  Slept deep and sound. Lovely.

2. Sitting on the front porch watching the kids at their lemonade stand on this perfect spring day.  People are so nice--strangers stop and contribute, even if they don't want a lemonade.

3.  People are kind. A complete stranger drove from a town twenty minutes away to deliver a package for us that was misdirected. People amaze me.

Off to Great Places. . .Off and away

So, if I would have written this earlier today, here's how it goes:
Today Truman, Lili, Henry, and Lance woke at 3:30 a.m. and went to the temple to do baptisms.  Then, we drove to Provo to the Missionary Training Center to drop Truman off.  All day I was so happy.  So happy that Truman has this blessing to be able to serve, so happy that he wants to go, so happy that he is worthy, so happy that he is well prepared.  As Lance, Henry, and Lincoln cried I just felt happiness--excitement for his new adventures.  I told Lance how great this all was.  And I really felt it.

But, after driving the three plus hours home I kept thinking about Truman's car that I knew I would see parked in the driveway.  It made me feel sad.   Now, being home I keep seeing his stuff and it makes me sadder.  I see a pen and wonder if it's his.  I see his books in stacks.  I see his dusty shelves.  I want to yell down the stairs and remind him to dust. I see his shoes that he shined to sit and wait for the next two years.

I remembered something that was deep in my mind--long since forgotten.  Years ago, he was only 11 years old and I was having a difficult time.  I was worried, severely uneasy and couldn't rest or obtain peace.  One morning I awoke to find notes all over my bedroom.  A note on the mirror, "It will all work out."  A note in my sock drawer, "Everything is going to be O.K."  Written in his 11 year old script.  I found these notes throughout the morning and collected them like bits of gold. For a time, and for reason unknown, I could not logically or emotionally feel peace, but I treasured these notes and trusted that what my Truman said was truth--yes, if he said it, over and over, I would tell myself, it really will all work out for the best.  And so it will.

last week

Last week I finished my run and had to grab the camera and go back out to capture these.

Savoring the Time

Trying to really soak up the few moments we have left with Truman before he leaves next week for his mission. Yesterday he spoke in church.  I appreciated that he said as a missionary his role was "not to convince or even to persuade, but to INVITE."   

Couch and me

Ten miles.
Mr. Finch, Dave, Kathy, and I.
Gorgeous morning! Wide open fields,
sprinklers, sun coming up--gonna be a nice day.

Truman speaks tomorrow at church.
He leaves for MTC next Wednesday.
Time is a flyin'.

Happy Easter!

Isn't springtime great?

It means birthdays ( I turned 40!), Easter hope, warmth, General Conference, greener grass, and the summer ahead.

Planted these new flowers on Friday

Love this jar and spring blossoms

Amos and Esther

Coloring Eggs

Band of Brothers

Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy.

Only 38 days till Truman leaves on his mission!

Lovin' the Bun

Lucy's springtime dream is fulfilled with the purchase of a bunny at D&B last week.  We got the cutest bunny in town.  Benjamin loves the classics, we often find him immersed in Little Women. Bunnies are the bomb.  Make me happy, they do. 

Couch vs. Lawdy

Almost forgot to record a long run last week--10 miles on Saturday with Mr. Finch along the Vancouver, B.C. waterfront in Stanley Park.  Beautiful.

Layover in Portland, on our way to Canada. Ahhh, Portland, remember when? My lips, skin, even my eyeballs feel better in your balmy humidity. Nice to see the 205 bridge heading north over the Columbia. Guess this is more of a tweet than a blog entry. Always nice to see a new place, and new faces.

Couch vs. Lawdy

12.

(Planning on 14, but I ran out of steam).

Purging

Okay, so if you, like me, are in the winter blahs, I would highly recommend that you muster any energy you can and start collecting things to get rid of.  For me it means a few car loads to Deseret Industries (Mormon Salvation Army).  I have already started dropping things off and boy oh boy does it feel good.  I feel my energy increase the more I give away.  Spaces begin to clear around the house and around my mind--it feels liberating.

You are cordially invited to join me in the purge.  I would love to hear about your purge!

just the afternoon sun on a barstool

Hennessee Hank Way Back When

Has anyone seen this kid?  Where did he go?

Sweetest kid there ever was.

Snug

My Relief Sisters

Yes, I am officially in the winter blahs.
Church today was exceptional, especially Relief Society--the meeting for just the women.
Heard from many sisters, beautiful, not by worldly standards, but shimmery with the light of the spirit.
The message that resonated with me is "the spirit is all we need."
The world's messages, I guess the negative ones, tell me that I need more of this, less of this, and that I am just not enough.  So contrary to the simple truths my sisters shared today--that all we need is the quiet voice of the spirit--the Holy Ghost--to guide us. One sister compared a sister in Africa, living a simple life as to worldly possessions, but who, just like us, needs one simple ingredient--to listen to the spirit.  She said that the world tells us we are not enough, do not have what we need to progress or become what we need to become.  She reminded us that the spirit whispers, "what you have and are is enough to get to the next step."  Beautiful.  I love this thought.  I know it's true. Where would I be without my lovely Relief Society sisters?

From Denton and Becky's Fridge

Everyone is a genius,

But if you judge a

Fish on it's ability

to climb a tree, it will

live it's whole life 

believing that it is 

stupid.

            Albert Einstein

My youngest genius

Couch vs. Lawdy

12.4 miles today. 

I really didn't think I would make it out this morning.  Seemed like an impossibility.  So glad I went.  After a few miles I just kept going and it felt good.

You never regret a run, do you?

Mondays

Monday means running Rim to Rim and some great canyon scenery.  Any season of the year it is beautiful.  Take a look at these great ice falls.

Love the blues in these

Debater of the Year Award

Are you tired of me telling about Truman's accomplishments?  I am sorry. Just one more, okay?

Last weekend Truman was nominated and selected as

Student of the Year in Speech and Debate for the National Forensic League Mountain River District, which is most of Idaho. 

I'm not proud, just well pleased. (Kidding).

Couch vs. Lawdy

Ten miles.
New snow on ground, windy.

The Long and Short of it

It's never too Long before. . .

                                                                          Chop!
I don't look happy, but I am.  I just like short hair, and luckily Mr. Finch does too.  Once in awhile I like to throw in a picture of me.  Usually I am the one behind the camera, taking the pictures.  I want my kids to have a picture or two of me for when I am no longer around.  That sounds morbid.  Not that I am planning on going anywhere.   You know, you just want the grandkids to know what grandma looked like.  Funny.

Couch versus Lawdy

Anything over ten miles I am counting as a long run.

Twelve today.

 Yay.

Ski Day

 

Another GREAT ski day! Sure makes the winter more fun!

Speech & Debate

                                   Success at the debate tournament in Rexburg this weekend.

Couch: 0, Lawdy: 1

Got my long run in yesterday.
Fourteen miles.
Took it nice and slow.
Small victory for me.

His Call

Today Truman received his mission call for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints.  He will serve in the Toronto, Canada mission, beginning May 8th, four days after his 18th birthday, English speaking.

We opened the call around 10:00 a.m.  As the day progressed a small spark of sweetness appeared and has grown bigger and bigger until the emotions are real and undeniable--gratitude, recognition of the hand of God in many aspects of our lives, and as I've said before--echoes of tonic chords ringing back to me from the future--or the eternal round of time.

I see the sweetest little boy, whose mind is a trap for all he observes.  A little boy playing for hours on end in our evergreen Vancouver yard--his work his play--building, planning a castle, reciting scripture, singing songs, listening as we read him C.S. Lewis, Little House, and many others.  Weekly trips to the library, music classes, community pottery classes where the teacher stares with smiles and a mix of doubting pleasure at the bowls, canisters his young fingers pull from the shapeless blobs. The lovely afternoons in the old Portland Children's museum where a young mother watches and values his endless play from room to room and in the pottery basement.

Same boy a bit older--ever helpful to his mother. Watchful for her stress as new babies arrive.  The boy cleaning, rocking babies, reading. Cheering when dad comes home each day.  Watching Nova science with rapt attention. A cub scout recording a self written news cast that leaves us all impressed.  A boy scout collecting coats for refugees.  A young teen emerged for hours on end in the the Great books, endlessly notating.  His sketchbook--full of pencil drawings, among my dearest possessions.

I see this young man sitting at the dinner table with a mentor who stirs questions.  A mentor who has the answers, and with each answer more insatiable questions to search.  I see my boy drinking from large pitchers of water being poured by this mentor. Drinking it all in--as much as he can hold.

And so it is gratitude.  And so it is Thank Thee.  All the unseen was seen by Thee.  All the unseen is seen by Thee.   

Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs

 and will help us as we call upon him for assistance.  I believe that

 no concern of ours is too small or insignificant.

 The Lord is in the details of our lives.

--President Thomas S. Monson

New Day, New Year

This morning's run was at 7:00, negative twelve degrees. Full, bright moon, sky blue and everything covered with snow.  We were surprised to see one lone runner's tracks around the lake, as we tried and retried finding our way.  Who had come out earlier than us this New Year's morning?  These runs--the earlier, the colder, often make the most memorable ones. Best way to start the new year.  I told Mr. Finch there's no place I'd rather be. . .except for maybe on a beach.  Just kidding.

me and Mr. Finch

Jodi, me, Steph the mountaingoat

 

Happy New Year to You!

And now for those RESOLUTIONS.

1.  Trim my feeble lamp. . ."send a gleam across the wave." LDS Hymn: Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy. Do the "necessaries" to keep this little light of mine shining.

2.  Run.  First at Forty--a marathon.

3. Serve and Live Authentically: Honesty in the fiber.  Slower, steadier, true to truth, without the weight of thinking I need to carry the world on my shoulders. Atlas's task is not mine.

Music and the Spoken Word

Jean Valjean and Tom Brokaw on Music and the Spoken Word today.
It's worth watching if you didn't.
That Valjean is the bomb--he could sing anything and it would cause shivers.

Tonic Chord

Bringing a couple friends home
on a weeknight, my seventeen-year-old son
cooks a late dinner of hash browns, bacon,
eggs, and O.J. at 10:00 p.m.
From my room, in bed, I hear their lively conversation quiet.
My ears perk, only to realize their actual silence--a prayer,
thanking for all and blessing the meal,
warms me as I hear the distant echo of a tonic chord.

Snowin' and Blowin'

This morning's run was dark, blowing, snowing, and wonderful.

A couple of my favorite running quotes:

"One cannot run away from his behind."  --African Proverb

Tell me about it.  I think the translation must mean, "one cannot run away from his past," but it sure fits the other way, huh?

"I run because it's how I keep the black dog of depression from nipping at my heels."

 -Bill Katovsky, two-time Hawaii Ironman finisher 

  

Well, he still nips, but doesn't get much further.

By Hand

The dishwasher broke. 

 It made for some really fun washing sessions.

Ya'll think I need a new camera or what?!

Yes sir he's my baby