The Field

This is the field that lives next door to me.

Do You See What I See?

I see Allergy Relief in the next week or two! Hallelujah!

Prayers

Middle Child has started picking up on some of the common sayings in prayers within our religion. Things like:

Bless this food to strengthen and nourish our bodies

Bless us all to return home safely

Please bless the missionaries

Bless the sick and afflicted

It has been quite comical and entertaining as he pulls a new one out. Somehow the kid keeps growing up, older and bigger.

Soon after the Haiti earthquake Baby started blessing the quake victims in every single prayer. He is sweet like that. When he had a very sick Cub Scout leader he blessed her constantly. One night soon after the quake he reprimanded Middle Child for forgetting to bless the quake victims.

Middle Child replied, not to be outdone by his little brother, "I think they fall under 'sick and afflicted!'"

Awesome Things I Love About Living in a Smallish Town

1. Seeing someone you know every single time you go to the store, even when dressed in jammies or with messed up hair or on a no-shower day.
2. A next-door neighbor chasing a 2am would-be car thief (of another neighbor's car).
   
3. Kids playing on same soccer/football/baseball team as their neighbors.
4. Kids being able to walk or ride bikes to almost all their friends houses.
5. The old man that staffs the crosswalk on E Canyon Road who waves to everyone in town as they drive by.
6. Your neighbors bringing in your garbage can when you're out of town.
7. Your kids going to school with your schoolmates friends' kids. And for that matter, your kids having the same teachers as you.
   
8. The inability to take an evening walk without seeing and visiting with a minimum of three friends.
9. Knowing at least a few of the employees at every single store in town.
10. Mentioning I live next to J. Lee Butler's field and instantly everyone knows where I live.
11. Kids playing night games in the summer with their friends.
12. Leaving my windows open and not worrying (not that there is no crime in town, because that would simply be naive to believe that and I have even been the victim of crime in this house.)
13. Knowing lots of people in the annual City Parade and getting seats by yourself to watch the parade but still seeing nearby lots of friends.
14. A minimum of three wedding announcements on my fridge in any given month.
15. The "$1.75 Worms" sign on Canyon Road that's been there longer than I've been in town.
16. And mostly this awesome car that lives around the corner from me! I just might have to go knock on their door and beg for a ride.
    

In Case You Weren’t Sure Summer Was Here

As if the 95 degree weather wasn't enough to let me know summer is here this year. Work has been subtly letting me know summer is here. Even though I don't have a window in my office or anywhere near my office I know its summer. Work has ground it into my head. Today when I got to work there were five different emails in my inbox all addressing road closures for different road construction projects. And they were all located within my county! Some were new projects and some were old ones still going on. The good news is I don't normally drive through any of them. This past winter I thought it was cool to get the one email about all the different projects. But this summer is beginning to clog my email inbox with the daily construction updates. I guess I should count my blessings.

6 Months and Counting

For the last six months I have been trying to recover from the nightmarish events of October 15, 2008. It has been a long road. And I'm still not at the end. But a "New Normal" has emerged in my life. There is still a big hole and it will never, no matter what, be filled.

I remember after the accident whenever a new day started, thinking "How, how can this be? How can life go on?" And I just wanted to crawl up in my bed and stay there, hoping time would stand still. But I knew that would never happen. So I got up and went to work. That was probably one of the hardest things to do. And as much as I hated being away from my other two boys, I knew if I stayed home I would fall into the depths of despair. I knew that if I went to work my mind would be distracted. So I went.

So many things have worked out for the best for me that it is amazing. God is watching and even though he had different plans that I did, he was watching out for me and helping me along, preparing me for what was to happen. I finished school in time to get a job just months before the accident. It would have been disastrous to be home doing daycare afterwards. I had been offered several jobs before I took the one I did. If I had accepted any of the other jobs there is no way I would have been able to take 2 1/2 weeks off after the accident. And as hard as it was to work after the accident it was probably in my best interest to work full-time; it provided a good distraction. Several months later I happened across a part-time accounting job and applied for that. And I was lucky enough to be offered that job. I am able to be home with my boys after school.

We have also done some other things. Calvin loved the Junior High. He had so many friends and had matured so much in the last year or two. We really wanted to do something for the school in his remembrance. A few months after the accident we visited with the Principal. After some discussion we decided it would be good to have a display case built for the school. At first that sounds kind of dumb. But after brainstorming we really liked the display case idea the best. It would be a permanent fixture that would benefit the school for many years. Their current display cases are full and it would be nice to have more room.

We also finally picked out and ordered a headstone for his grave. For months I would think about it and couldn't bring myself to go and pick something out. "This couldn't be my life. There is no way I should be picking out a headstone for my child." It was such a finalization. I just couldn't bear the thought of it. But we finally went last month and did it. It will take a few months since they had to special order the stone. They said it might, might, be ready for Memorial Day, but it can't be promised. I was fine with that. I didn't care about the day, I just wanted it to be right.

So while things haven't been what I planned for my life we seem to be doing pretty good. And most thankfully the other two boys seem to be doing great considering. They seem to have adjusted to our "New Normal."

I'm a Magician

I am a Magician. I'll bet you didn't know that? But I have been making things disappear at my house since I started working Part-Time:

1. The piles of dirty laundry
2. The dust bunnies of dog hair
3. The TV programs recorded on my DVR
4. The number of Take-out meals
5. The smudges and streaks on the windows
   
6. The dirty dishes in the sink
7. The undone homework of my children
8. The toothpaste scum in the bathroom sinks
9. The pile of ironing
10. The children's lack of chores

Thanks to the possibility of working part time (which can be chalked up to this economy, the job used to be full time) I have time to do the things I hadn't done much of for the last six months. And I love it! I don't ever want to work full time again. And my children's friend's parents have informed me that my children LOVE me being home when they get home from school. That right there makes it worth the teensy paycheck.

The Pros

The Pros of Working Full-Time over Daycare

1. Lunch hour! This is my favorite perk of working. A full hour of time to myself to do whatever I please. No children, mine or others, calling my name. I haven't had a free lunch hour in 10 years and love this time, even if I just sit in the break room eating leftovers and reading a book. I get to meet Olaf at least once a week for lunch, which is priceless.
   
2. Paid Time Off! I get paid to not work! I get paid to go on vacation instead of saving up not only for vacation but for the money I'm not making while gone.
   
3. And along with PTO comes Paid Holidays. I get paid to stay home on Christmas and a bunch of other holidays. Who doesn't love a paid holiday, something I hadn't experienced for the last decade.
   
4. Bathroom breaks. Whenever I used the bathroom during daycare either a fight would break out or someone would start crying my name. No one does that at my work, thank goodness. I'd be a little worried if it happened there.
5. A steady paycheck and I don't even have to beg for it! No more wondering how much I'm going to make this month and whether I'm even going to get paid.
   
6. An eight hour workday and set work times. No more working 6am to 6pm and waiting on someone to show up in the evenings, when I had many more important places to be.
   
7. The chance to get the kids ready every morning without other children pestering me for my attention.
   
8. The ability to have meaningful conversations during the daytime hours with my adult coworkers. My brain no longer feels like it's going to mush, at least most days.
   
9. No more snotty noses or dirty diapers to change! Nothing more needs to be said.
   
10. Benefits. Not that I need them, but at least they are there.

The Good in Things

Tonight we got back from a weekend trip. Of course we had a pile of mail waiting for us. Over time the mail has gotten back to normal and hasn't been as traumatic as it had been at first after our accident. But this weekend left us with a few surprises.

First off, Middle Child got his blanket. While still at the funeral he had asked his Grandma to make him a quilt to help remember his big brother, Calvin. Grandma's specialty is quilts, especially for the grandchildren. Grandma and Sister Quilter both made a quilt for the boys. While Baby's quilt came Monday, Middle Child's took it's usual sweet, Spanish Fork, time to get here. Most mail takes several days longer to get to us than to the top of Kilimanjaro. But I detract, DO NOT under any circumstances let me get started on the USPS. (Altho I do love our current postperson. His name is Obi (like Obi Wan Kenobi) and he looks like Shaggy from the old Scooby Doo cartoons! And he loves our dog!) But Middle Child was so happy! He quickly opened the box and proceeded to wear the quilt on his shoulders for the next two hours.

Then we got a letter from the University of Utah Eye Center. I thought they were pedaling Lasik and almost didn't open the letter. But it was something completely different and unexpected and wonderful. While still at the Hospital that horrible October 15 we were confronted with whether to donate Calvin's organs for others. That was an easy decision for us to make. Calvin always loved helping others. So we donated and were prepared to never hear again whether he helped anyone or not. But this letter told us how two people who had previously been blind now have eyesight! I couldn't imagine anything better, except Calvin still being here. These were grown ups and I can't believe how happy they must be! I'm glad this happened in time for Christmas so they can finally see the magical season for the first time.

As horrible as the whole incident has been I am happy to find little things like this where good has come from Calvin, even still.