Beneath the Wraps

             Our Saturn was such a good car and I hated to see it in non-driving, special (and expensive) repair state – especially after all the money we sunk into it.   Brand new tires.   Our cars have a way of getting “killed” right after the tire investment.   So unfair.           Our Saturn was a very good car.   Outlived its 22 years I think.   We put many   miles on that car going from Utah to Arizona and back.   Climbing hills of Nevada and Oregon.   Roseburg and back.   Medford and back.   Many miles. Over 100,000.             In my mind I can hear “taps” being played.   My eye sheds a tear for our beloved car.   I’m sorry that you’re gone now.   My mom is the Saturn's original owner.  Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, mom.  Miss you.  Look forward to reuniting w...

               Our Relief Society lesson last week was taken from Shayne Bowen’s talk on miracles, angels and priesthood ( here ).    The same talk was used for one of the talks given during sacrament meeting. An inactive member made the comment that she was meant to be there that day as the message was given twice.   It was a good lesson and I reflected on miracles past and present.   Miracles happen every day. Some are obviously more powerful than others.             When Jaime was still a baby Richard and I had been called as ward missionaries.   Primary baptisms were done at a stake level, but if for some reason only one ward had youth being baptized when the head position was out of town, the ward missionaries were asked to fill the font.   The font took roughly two hours to fill.             One Satu...

           Neither Richard nor I have been sleeping well lately.   He caught a virus due to stress and probably room temperature.   I always wake up hot and he has a pile of blankets.   He coughs.   Bonnie snores.   One or the other of us will leave the room.   He turns on the TV.   It is ALWAYS loud.   I can ’ t return to sleep when there is noise.   But somehow between two and four I slept hard.   Really hard.   I know it was hard because I had a nightmarish dream.   “ I had gotten out of bed for something (probably to go to the bathroom) and when I returned my end table and all contents had disappeared.   I remember looking for them in some kind of office building.   That was weird. “ Later on, while in bed I heard a noise and gone to the window to investigate a noise. I saw our car back up out of the driveway.   Surprisingly there had been enough light to i...

  What ’ s the story behind a time when you got locked out?           I have come up with more situations than I care to admit.   The first one I thought about on Friday when Carolyn announced that she ’ d be ending the class ten minutes early as the lifeguards have a meeting at 10:00 and would like to start on time without having to wait for stragglers. When class was over, I strongly suggested that Richard get out as it seems to take him longer to dress.         Carolyn announced to the group that they were welcome to stay for five minutes before taking off.   She started heading to the deep end while the majority of the class headed towards the stairs at the shallow end and climbed out.   I then shared my first story with her. Story #1 I don ’ t know how many years ago it was, but my first “ locked out ” story is not really about getting locked out but rather getting “ locked in ...

         For those of my readers who are unfamiliar with baptisms for the dead, this site will be helpful information          I was asked to join a group of ward members to go down to Medford Temple with our newest member.   I had gone with the youth a few times but had never physically been in the font since I had lived in Utah.         I had ridden in the car with our former RS president and our newest member.   On our way down the car encountered something – though none of us seemed to know what it was.   It felt like a pothole.   Our driver continued driving hoping to make it to the next exit.   Unfortunately the tire lost all air and he didn ’ t wish to continue driving on the rim.   We were a quarter of a mile from the rest area.         Fortunately the tire was on the passenger ’ s side and he managed to remov...

             It’s been just over three and a half years since we had made the purchase of our reclining couch and chair – something that had invited comfort in the showroom.   We didn’t realize the furniture had been created over extremely heavy frame that would misshape each time it was moved.   Thus, coming out to Oregon really took a toll on our misshapen couch each time it was moved.   It’s sad that it’s value had depreciated so quickly.   We feel so gipped.   But what can we do?   We have looked to replace our pathetic couch, but it’s not a priority.   There are two other issues at hand.             First there is the matter of the car that my mom had purchased brand new, however Roland and I put more miles on the car than she ever did.  We had borrowed it to go on long trips thus it had quite a bit of mileage on it before we had purchased it....