Events That Fill Our Lives

This week, included lunch/dinners out with friends and family.  A graduation, a recital,a book club meeting,  a farewell party, a family dinner and a memorial service.  We were just grateful that we were able to attend them all, though at times that did take some juggling to accomplish.  Andall of these events have one thing in common.  They are all about loving and celebrating people.  Dad and I are so glad to have so many wonderful people in our lives, and for all they (you) do to enrich life for us.  On Monday Dad worked while I recovered (slept) from the antique show.  That night we went and saw a musical version of the Secret Garden, which we mostly enjoyed.

On Tuesday, he was off to do more heavy lifting and shifting as he redid yet another store.  I got to meet friends, Barb, Teri and Robin for a birthday lunch at Mimi's Cafe.  Teri's birthday is just four days after mine, so its fun to celebrate together.  Since I was out, I spent the rest of the day shopping. (With me you can almost always read that as junking.)  Dad worked his normal shift at the temple that evening.

 On Wednesday Dad and I both worked, with me trying to get all the goodies I had taken to the antique show reinstated in my booths at the mall.  Its a huge undertaking and often requires resetting my booth setup, so in a way it was sort of like what Dad does all the time.

After work on Thursday Dad and I met up at Brigham Larson  Pianos for J. Scott's piano recital.  Its amazing how well he plays now, such a talented young man .... and doesn't he look like a musician?  Dad went off to dinner with them all, while I headed home and finished up preparations for the Walden Ladies Book Club that was meeting in my parlor that evening.  Book Club went great, and I am sure dinner was good as well.

On Friday morning Dad and I met up again, this time in Pleasant Grove at Eva's preschool, where we had the opportunity to see her graduate!! Yep, hard to believe she starts Kindergarden in the fall.

After that Dad and Trevor were back to work, but I got to go do a bit of Junquing with Nell and the girls, before returning to their house for lunch.  It was fun to see Nell's great Alphabet wall.  I think it turned out so cute!!

On Saturday, after Dad got back from his run, he got to work on starting the frame of the garden/guest house we are building.  And by 'We' I mean him, with very minimal help from me.

 I ran into the antique mall for a few hours where I redid a display in the north building that I am in charge of keeping fresh.

Later that afternoon Dad was off to the temple to fill a shift from someone who had worked for him when we were in Hawaii.  I got some final shopping (grocery this time) done for the Walker's farewell party that we were hosting with the Moes, as in at their house and they did most of the work.  We had a smaller crowd than we had hoped for, but since it was a holiday weekend and very windy which meant we were kept inside, its good it wasn't any larger.  Still we had a great reunion of old Geneva Heights 7th warders, mostly ex patriots, but the Wilmores brought us up to date as to what is going on in the ward where Scott once served as bishop, and as such, is very close to our hearts. 

On Sunday, I went with Scott to hear his speaking assignment in another ward in our stake.  His partner was supposed to be a returned missionary in the stake, but after a half a dozen attempts to connect, Dad finally 'leaned' on Spencer who came through with an amazingly well done talk, not even considering that it was concocted that morning.  The meeting was lovely and the spirit there was strong.

 Dad then attended a couple of meetings with the ward he is over, while I returned home for a couple of hours before we headed north to his cousin William Maben's memorial service. William was exactly his age, and a musical/mathematical genius who also suffered from mental illness.  It was really a lovely, lovely service, showing the beauty of a life that was imperfect in so many ways.  Shown to the right are Aunt Karen, and William's sister Dana.  The services were held in  Gilgal  gardens in Salt Lake.  I showed these same gardens to Dad when we were dating, so it was truly a bitter sweet afternoon.  Oh and the music was divine.  A lot of taped examples of William's compositions, as well as a lovely, well executed, violin solo by his sister, of one of his favorite classical pieces.  William had a friend from High School who has stuck by him through thick and thin, including William in many, many family events over the years, despite the fact that William often showed up 'disheveled' to say the least. (according to aunt Karen).  It really made me wish that we had made an effort, rather than being put off when his mental illness started to encroach while we were all still young adults.

This is one of many structures in the garden.  Gilgal was the back yard of a man who served as a stone mason and a Mormon bishop for more than 10 years.   When I was in college it was privately owned, and people would just walk behind the buildings surround it to enjoy its amazing sculptures.  It has since been 'saved' and is now a public park, and is just east of Trolley Square. 

Dad and I got home just in time to get the food ready for our bimonthly family dinner.  Emily and Sam were off having dinner with two of his brothers, and Ashley and Andy were otherwise occupied, so besides missing Ben, we had a great evening with the additions of Nell's sister Alexis and Darby's friend Phil.  We had Navajo Tacos and lots of laughs while swinging babies in blankets in the parlor.

Its been a busy and fulfilling week, made more wonderful by our associations with all of you.  Love and Hugs from Mom and Dad (Paula and Scott)