Beneath the Wraps

                  I have twelve cousins – eight on my dad ’ s side and four on my mom ’ s.  My parents are each the eldest in their families.  Dad has a brother two years younger and baby sister (they are about twelve years apart).  My mom has two brothers.  All of my dad ’ s family lived in the Salt Lake area except for the few years that my Uncle and Aunt lived in Denver for a couple of years – that could be a different post and was several decades in the past.          My mom ’ s family lived in different parts of northern California.   My mom ’ s first brother and his wife had three children – a boy and two girls.   The youngest brother and his wife had adopted a boy.   We had visited our cousins on occasion but didn ’ t know much about them beyond their names. And even with that one I am not certain of his given name.   I had thought it was Joshua and th...

  It must have happened shortly after she was taken to the doctor for a different medication.   I hadn’t seen her for a few weeks.   I called and left a message.   I had more than once.   People were starting to worry.   Her family hadn’t let us know that she was gone.   We could have offered our assistance.   Why didn’t they tell us she had been called home to our Heavenly Father?   She passed two months ago and I am just learning about it today.   Perhaps the family didn’t know how to get in touch with us just as we don’t know how to get in touch with them.   At least I didn’t.   I didn’t know her for long.   What an impact she has made.

                After we returned home from the ward party on Saturday I could feel my throat starting to get sore.  I made the mistake of taking a lozenge and allowing it to sit under my tongue all night.  My teeth hurt the following morning – and I just got to the point where I am no longer pained by cold drinks or food.  Now I have to start all over again.         I missed church on Sunday – turns out that Richard was the only one to leave the house.   Ally had a slight cough and I had heard that her throat was sore.   She didn ’ t act sick.   Not like I was sick.   Still, I don ’ t know why both mom and dad had to stay home with her.   But whatever.   My head throbbed.   It felt like the beginning of a sinus infection.         Carolyn had asked if I would like to go get coffee with her and Dan on Friday but I told her I...

Do you feel your beliefs and values are shared by most of the people you are surrounded by each day?   Or do your beliefs set you apart from those around you? The answer to both questions is “Yes”.   Allow me to elaborate: Less than half of all those living in Salt Lake are LDS.   Not all LDS are active.   Though many wards have great support and members work well together, there are just as many whose members may go through the motions each Sunday but may not carry it out the remaining six days – like the “Come Follow Me Program”   -   I’m just curious.   Although I have good friends in the Church who really do live a Christian life 24/7,   I didn’t often feel my values were the same as others living in Salt Lake. As a whole, I usually felt so uptight with the hurriedness, the crime, profanity, dysfunctional relationships, etc.   I was part of the minority – which is not a bad thing.   Evidently, I’ve been part of the minority m...

          It’s been just a few years since I wrote this post – referring to the stages of life and changes that we hope will never come.   Yet we are tried.   We can’t control what things might happen – good or bad.   For my oldest son’s in-laws, June is a hard month.                       For Roland’s family it seems to be April that seasons the time line.   His mom turned 92 yesterday.   Seven years ago we’d gone to Tucson to celebrate her birthday ( here ).   Nine days later, Roland’s eldest sister passed.   Today we learned that another sister died this morning.   Facebook reminders of two of my boys who married their wives in April.         Missionary papers and homecomings in April.  Jenna was also born in April.   This is my first recorded timeline.  

          For many of us change is a difficult thing.  We change instructors each time we advance a grade in school.  Our insurance doesn’t allow for a certain expense and we change doctors as a result.  Death always creates change.  We must deal with the void in our lives.  Some do this gracefully.  Others may complain.           Often, we are asked to accept responsibilities that we certainly hadn’t stood in line for. Some of the responsibilities accepted force us to grow in ways that we may have not otherwise understood.  Take my brother, Corey, and cousin, Michelle for example.  Both had been placed in situations regarding finances attached to an estate.  Corey took over what Patrick had been assigned to do initially.  We had all voted on it.  Patrick seemed the logical choice.  He could have easily cheated each of us out of our inheritance but we al...

                Uncle Ted passed away yesterday.   He and Trudy were our eldest living relatives ( here ). This year Uncle Ted celebrated 100 years of life.   His goal was living to 105.   Now Trudy survives alone.   She is a lot more frail than the last time I saw her.   Her health has declined since we have moved to Oregon.   My cousin has scheduled different family members to rally around the clock so that someone has been with Ted and Trudy at all times.   I wasn't there to assist.   And now Ted is gone.   I cannot even get back for the funeral.               We overspent when we went back to Utah to attend Jeanie's funeral and show our support to Biff.   We've also had the demolition of our house, but not a full restoration   and so it probably wouldn't be wise to leave it unattended. ...

          I don't know how long it's been since Del Blanchard started his blueberry farm.   I don't know if it was his dream or how just how he got started.   The public hadn't been invited to pick until the year that we moved in.   Evelyn had made some flyers and posted them around town.   Roland saw the one that was hanging at the Pizza Palace - where we had gone to get something to eat.   We copied the address and went blueberry picking the next day.           That first year we dealt solely with Evelyn - who teaches school and I believe prefers it over the blueberry farm.   Del had been sick off and on and so we had to call first to make sure somebody would be there to let us onto the property as there were several days when Evelyn had to take Del to the doctor.           Summer seemed to get away from us last year.   We didn't go as of...

          Though I have had a small hand and say in making funeral arrangements, I have not had the opportunity of having to find a mortuary nor have considered every financial expect.   Before either of my parents had passed, there needed to be a record of what funeral home to contact should they expire.   My dad lived out his final days at Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah.   Ironically, he had also been born there (or so I was told) but at that time it had been called Cottonwood Maternity Ward and wasn't the full blown hospital where he had died.                Mom had used a local mortuary as a contact I’m guessing because it was familiar territory as it had been used by other members of our ward.   Before mom passed, Corey had made arrangements for Premier Funeral – though none of us had heard of it before, it really does seem the most economical way to go.     ...

               Two years ago this month, we were contacted by a property rental with availability.   I have a friend who had said she'd be driving to Newport the following day.   I talked her into leaving a day early so that I could ride with her and she could take me to my destination.                   Two years ago we parted ways.   After securing the rental, Denise dropped me off at the gas station where I planned - and eventually did catch a bus.   I was somewhere between Boise and Salt Lake June 6, 2015 when my brother called to let me know of my Uncle's passing.                 Facebook memories have provided memories of the trip and of Uncle Ross's passing.   My daughter-in-law Jeanie passed away exactly two years later.   She is the third child of her mom and dad to pass away within the last eight years.   All three ...

        Before we moved to Tri City, I had a premonition that one day Roland and I would be involved in helping to raise Ally.   It's not that I was trying to write Jeanie off into the next life - although it wasn't unexpected.   There was concern that she would die before Ally had finished school.   Ally will be two in August and therefore has not even started school.   And just because I had that premonition doesn't mean Biff will be packing up and moving to Oregon any time soon.   It may not be in his plans to come to Oregon at all - unless Roland talks him into it.   Biff does have other options - or will have.           His mother comes from a rather large family, and although half have now moved on to the other side, he does have family in Wyoming.   One aunt wrote me to say that Biff is welcome to stay with them.   At first it puzzled me.   Why would she ...

                The school held a hat day sometime last month.   Jenna couldn't find any of her fedoras and so she took the plastic tiara that she had received during a young women's lesson earlier that week.   Meanwhile she found a fedora but ended up taking the plastic crown anyway.                   Through the course of the day she would ask guys to try it on and take pictures.   On February 10 she posted pictures other friends on facebook.   At least nine guys proudly wore that crown.   One of them was Andrew.   She did not get one of Nick.   The last words she said to him was to ask him to put the tiara on his head.   The last words she had said to Andrew was to let him keep a pencil that he had borrowed.             ...

            Our local news comes from Eugene - located in Lane county which is north of Douglas.   The news stories usually start off with some criminal activity in Springfield or Eugene.   Sometimes human interest stories in Eugene.   Rarely is the focus ever on Douglas.   Except this morning.   And updates throughout the day.             Tri City recorded population is 3,931, but Myrtle Creek says 3,439.   I would guess both cities put together fall somewhere between the two numbers as we use the same zip code.   The city of Riddle lies just south west of us.   Their recorded population was 1185.   That number has gone down by four due to a tragic fire.             I first heard about it after Jenna returned home from school.   She reported that one of h...

          My Uncle Ross had battled cancer off and on for I don’t know how many years.   His last time in the hospital was majorly hard on his wife and children – but he kept up a positive attitude, I believe for their sake.                       When he left the hospital, he was told that he would have no more than a year left on earth.   (Probably not in those exact words – but you get the gist)           My cousin, Michelle, had sent out a request for an early “Christmas in July” celebration – hoping that we would all enjoy one last celebration with Uncle Ross and have those treasured memories as we had for mom.   Only her request came as a plea on my part: “LaTiesha is moving to Oregon.   Let’s have our Christmas early this year before she goes” She didn’t want to sa...