Beneath the Wraps

            Bill and Kayla had planned on spending spring break with Bill's parents who live in St. George.   Their house gets quite packed with visitors when the entire family comes to visit.   They have five children and I think at least 5X that amount in grandchildren.   Bill had planned on getting the family a trailer tent to add to their comfort of an overly squished house.   But, evidently, Bill's parents either forgot or found another opportunity and booked for a cruise - that same weekend!           I don't know how long before spring break Kayla had contacted me to see if they could make their spring break getaway with us in Oregon.   What a fantastic birthday gift for Jenna!   I decided to keep it a secret - knowing they would have to leave before her actual birthday but would be spending time with us close enough (Jenna turns 14 today; the fam...

       For the past three years or so, Roland has been working as a recruiter for students to take online courses.   His title wasn’t recruiter though.   I forget what it was.                         When he first started, those in his position were responsible for having at least two people start per mod (don’t know if the three letters are abbreviations for something or if it’s spelled differently – but it means every six weeks to eight weeks when the classes start for each major) and somewhere along the line it was raised to three and then four and then six.             My brother-in-law, Bill, had worked there just a few years before the stress pushed him into looking for another job.   He put in his notice before the requirement was bumped to six.   Th...

  I don’t recall how long it’s been since I first looked into purchasing my first cell phone.   I believe that Corey was on his mission and that I was experiencing problems with my car.   I remember walking to a nearby strip mall after my car broke down.   Outside one of the stores stood two men with a table displaying information about cell phone plans with Voice Stream (which I had mentioned in this post ). I had asked one of the men if I could use his cell phone to call my mom – and that’s where she found me – being sucked into the world of cell phones.   I don’t know if I had already signed my contract before my mom showed or if I was about to.   But mom ended up showing interest in the convenience as well, and we ended up getting two phones on the same plan. I don’t recall how long we had our plan before the bills stopped coming from Voice Stream.   Funny how I hadn’t noticed – though I did notice a tremendous amount of garb...

Roland and I had been married a couple of months before we met Bill Jolly – who totally lived up to his last name as he was always smiling and joking and overall really did appear to be happy.           He’d come to choir practice and often joke with the chorister.  It was rare that he presented himself as a person who was ever serious.           Overall he didn’t seem like my sister’s type, but I liked him and wondered if she would too.  Yet in the back of my mind it seemed like he had a wife.  I’m not sure why I thought that.  I never saw him with anyone.  It wasn’t until much later on that I learned his wife was homebound for much of the time due to failing health.  When she did leave the house it was usually to go to the doctor or hospital.  I would visit her periodically. It was disheartening to see her in such poor health as she was younger ...