Beneath the Wraps

            All of my life people have thought or think that I am younger than I am.   My mind finally agreed with them and has accepted myself as younger.             When people had asked me how old I was, I seriously had to stop and think about it and subtract 62 from whatever year it was.   Now I add 42 years to whatever Jenna’s age happens to be.             Before I gave birth to Jenna, I had a bad case of tendonitis – or maybe it wasn’t that bad.   My cousin Michelle had experienced something with her hands – only with her there was pain.   With me it was just numbness – like Novocain numbness.   I’ve never been paralyzed – but I did have a tingling sensation sometimes.   Mostly my fingers just felt lifeless – even after Jenna came along.     ...

     I had hired a clown the year that Jenna turned three.   Her first birthday party with friends – one redhead, five blondes, and Jenna with her dark hair.      The clown’s name was Wheeler.   Two of my boys told me that I should hire my brother-in-law, Bill – who was actually not my brother-in-law at the time.   His wife, Annaleigh had some serious health issues and she would be a priority to whatever party plans I might have made.   At the time, I wasn’t aware that he really was trying to get gigs as a professional clown.      So on Jenna’s 6 th and 9 th birthday, we had Rocko come entertain the troops.   It was on her 9 th birthday that I realized she had had a clown at her party every three years.   I jokingly asked, “ Will you have a clown at your party when you turn 12 and 15?”      She said if it were possible, she would have had...

            When we moved from Salt Lake to Myrtle Creek, I was so careful about packing boxes.   Taping the outside.   Labeling each box with room name and contents.   I saved every box after we had broken them all down.   I kept them stored in the shed.   I knew that someday we would move and perhaps we would need more boxes and seemed to add to our collection.             When we moved from Myrtle Creek to Tri-City, I wasn’t so careful.   I taped boxes and filled and closed with flaps but did not secure – nor did I relabel any of the boxes.   The house that we signed to purchase is three miles away from the house we were renting.             I haven’t felt the need to hang onto boxes anymore.   I think we left just as many boxes at the rental on Myr...

I have always loved poetry by Langston Hughes.   Soon I was reading everything I could by him or about him.   When I read “ A Pictorial History of African Americans” I read a quote he had used in reference to Harriet Tubman. I can’t seem to find the quote, but it had to do with planting apple trees.     As a child slave she was not allowed to eat apples off the trees. She said she had wanted to grow several apple trees so that she would have enough to share.   After having escaped and helping several others to escape she settled up north.   She had planted and grew apple trees on her estate in Auburn, New York.               I was fascinated by Harriet Tubman and read all I could about her.   Several years later, I remember Kayla coming home from Snow College for a visit.   She mentioned that she’d been given an assignment to do a report on a historical figure....

         We signed papers on February 5 because we needed to buy a house.   We were told that Roland’s job position would be done away with and so he applied for a new position within the same company.   Rather than continue looking for what we really wanted and what just felt right, we chose to settle because of Roland’s employment situation.          He was actually supposed to train at the start of this month, but continues to do what he has been doing for the last few years – but with more work for less money.          We were initially supposed to close on March 29, but had to sign an addendum for a new date: April 6 th – which also came up and we had to sign another addendum – which the sellers assured would be the last.            We closed on the 7 th – FINALLY – but sti...

         We closed on our house finally.  It's supposed to record today.  It's been a painful ride.  Have several boxes packed, but we still don't have a key.  The plan is to move all the big pieces of furniture this upcoming weekend.  Other than that, I'll be loading the car with as many boxes as I can, drive to Tri-City, unload and repeat.           Right now I'm just taking a break from packing boxes and having them ready.  I don't know how the weather will be for us.  Last week was so hot and this week has been overcast and cool.           None of us are excited about moving, but we are all looking forward to saving some money. And I am looking forward to taking a bath in a tub that is deep enough to cover my entire body (unlike the turkey pan sized tubs that we've had in Utah.  Currently we don...

          Dee, who is the young women's personal progress specialist in our ward, had passed out bags of plastic eggs to the young women on Easter Sunday.  The eggs were to be opened during conference weekend, and as Jenna would be turning twelve on Sunday, a bag was given to her as well.  The eggs came with these directions: I did find these instructions on pinterest, but could not find any other information when I clicked on  "view" and so do not have original source           We were in Roseburg when Conference started, but was recording, and so when we returned home, I told Jenna that she could open an egg.     She chose the dark blue one.              I wanted Jenna to read and follow each message, but her heart seemed to be in the candy and the clues.    ...