Running into Old Friends and the Story Telling Festival

Well, its been another week since Ben's death.  I wonder if I will always divide my life in terms of before and after.  This week was a bit slower, which was good, but also gave us more time to think, which I am not sure is a good thing.

 We caravaned home from Bear Lake with Davin and Bri on Monday, while driving Darby and Hannah, as Dallas' Grandmother passed away over the weekend in Idaho and he headed up there to be with his family.  Here we are in Park City at an Indian Restaurant, the food was great, the service was terrible.

After dropping Darby in SLC to pick up her car at a park and ride, we dropped off Hannah's gear at her house, and then stopped by Ben's grave.  No one was there when we drove up, but as we left another car took our place.  I guess we're not the only one's missing him.

On Tuesday I spent the whole day working on our extra long Bear Lake Week blog.  Dad brought Davin's girls over to play, which was fun.  We all watched an off brand Snow White movie, which no one loved, except maybe Dad, the old softy.

 That night we headed to Bountiful to see Varlerie Cardon and her soon to be husband Emil Parkka, a native Finn she met on her mission.

 We ran into lots of missionaries, which we love.  Here's Rick London (Lynn is taking the picture) a nice young man who is a date for Emily Burden, then Katie Cooper and Dad and me.

The house where the reception was help was amazing.  Probably the showiest private residence I have ever seen. 

It was fun to run into Sister and Former President Watson.

 On Wednesday I headed back to Bountiful, stopping in NSL, for a reunion with High School Chums.  Their were five of about nine friends this time, and it was great. Carla, Linda, Debbie, Paula and Debbie.

 Here are four of us when we got together about ten years ago.

Here's a reunion back in 1983, Debbie is in the brown shirt with me behind here and Linda to her left .... the other Debbie is to the right of brown shirt Debbie ... the rest are assorted friends who lived in West Bountiful when we were all in High School.

 After the luncheon I met up with Dad and our favorite realtor to check out this house in Lehi.  It was fun to see it and talk about flipping the staircase direction, but in the end we know we'd have half the space, a whole house to remodel, and be behind financially.  Alas, its fun to dream.  Sorry Becca.

Since we were so close, we drove over to the house that Darby is in the process of buying.  Isn't it adorable?  But the best part for her is the land that comes with it where she can keep her horses.

 That night I went up Payson Canyon with the Young Men and Women of our ward to share ancestral stories and make smores,

 Here we see Azalea Ottoson as she roasts marshmallows.

Here the Bishop takes the marshmallow off the roaster.  The stories were a lot of fun, and I told the story about Thomas Benjamin as a member of the Queen's Guard who joined the church in the late 1840' in London.

When I got home I got to check out the new door bell. Its very cool and the 'tunes' can be changed out.

I woke up early, around 2, on Thursday morning, I've been thinking that writing a poem about my feelings about Ben would help me deal with some of the emotion that keep breaking out.  I'd noticed the morning glory in my garden a couple of times during the comings and goings the week after Ben died.   So in the middle of the night, I wrote this poem.

Good Morning Glory

Oh how I love your face,

In an hour or two you're gone,

Still, I find I stumble on ....

ne'er to regret our tete a tete,

Though afternoon be unadorned,

I'm left with memories of the morn

looking to some distant dawning,

blinking, brightness, perhaps yawning,

then to see your dew washed face

and be locked in your embrace

once more.

As said in the poem, I've loved the time I had being Ben's mother here on earth.  He was fun, kind and surprising.  I miss him tremendously, but I know he is in a better place.  I know that he is progressing in his journey to Eternal Life.  I love pictures and stories about him, in much the same way I have always loved hearing stories about my father, who also left the earth much too young.

Then I was off to work. Dad served his shift in the temple, then came home and investigated a wet hole he had noticed in the lawn.  He found the crack in the sprinkling system on the left and repaired it as seen on the right.

Also noteworthy to Dad's way of thinking, he found out that a couple that he works with in the temple, are actually close neighbors of Davin and Bri's.  You can only imagine how that delights him.

That night Dad shared an email he had gotten from President Aura in Finland telling us that he has decided to employ us as the office couple when we go back next year.  We're so happy, because that will allow us to attend the same ward and continue the friendships we made there.  We so love Finland and the people, and as we struggle through right now, its so nice to have something wonderful to look forward to.  Now we just have to take advantage of the proximity of our beloved children and grandchildren for the next year.

 On Friday Dad and I headed up to the Timpanogos Story Telling Festival,  Early on, we ran into my friend Joanne, who had given us passes for the festival. 

 Almost immediately I ran into Lynn Wing, who lives in our ward, and who is the president of the Utah County Story Teller's Guild.  

 After a couple of sessions of story telling, we went to the puppeteers tent where we got to see Nat Reed with his fabulous puppets.  It was so fun.

 Nat is Jenn's husband, who worked with me building up flea.o.logy, several years ago. They are a couple of the most talented artists I know.

 Later Dad had a great reunion with the Bishop who was serving in Grandma and Grandpa Perkins ward when they were serving a mission in Spain.  

 At the end of the  fourth session that we attended that day, we ran into Pete and Chrystal Kwiatkowski, who lived in our Payson ward for two or three years after we moved down. Her brothers CJ an Dayton Waite have done all of our heating and furnace moving here. 

We loved the story telling, but I think Dad loved running into old friends the best.

 On Saturday morning we spent an hour at the Treasure's Flea Market, a twice a year event.  Here I am with Rosemary who manages the north store.  

I also ran into a good customer, who told me she was so sorry about Ben's passing.  She said she had loved having him in her home, which I did not know.  She said that one night, her daughter and a friend were driving to a wedding reception, when a couple of guys in a car with a loud speaker had said "Hey, Pretty Girls, pull over."  Evidently her red headed daughter and Ben dated for quite a while, she even remembered attending one of our Bishop's Youth Discussions at the second Orem house.  (Happy Mom, Funny Ben) 

 We attended four more sessions on Saturday, meeting this couple while we were eating lunch.  They have a daughter who lives in Finland, just outside of Turku.  It was fun to share with them, as we have many things in common.

 The gardens are beautiful, it was fun to do a bit of wandering, the water features and structures are wonderful too.

Even the glimpse above one of the tents to see the building where Becca and Brady held their reception, and also where we first heard that Davin and Briahnna would be married, was heart warming. 

 This is the final story teller.  She did a great job.  There were so many different types of stories, including fantastical stories about being the queen of Pluto, by a 11 year old girl, this woman's tales of life as a slave, as well as the story told by a pair of story tellers of a man who found a way to make a difference while living in a concentration camp.  Many stories were funny, many historical, some by amaturs and some by children.  But alas all good things come to an end.

 I dropped Dad off at Trevor's as he was to go to the BYU game, and I ran into the DI, where I ran into one of our missionaries, Chelsea Roberts, who was shopping with her two adorable BYU roommates. 

 Here's Dad with Trevor, Scott and a friend of Trevor's at the BYU game.

 and here are the three generations of Scotts at the Costa Vida booth.  Yum.

Today Dad was off to the nursing homes to give a talk in the stead of Steve Kew, who has not been feeling great.  When he got home we headed off to our ward, which was lovely as always.

When we got home I made curry, while he whipped up another batch of Pico with tomatoes from the garden.  We'll be so sad when the tomatoes come to an end.  I keep thinking soon I'll have enough to make sun dried tomatoes to eat this winter, but as of yet the two of us have managed to keep up.

Well, thanks for keeping up with us, and thanks for your prayers for us, we do feel great strength and support.  We also continue to pray for our wonderful children who have not only lost a brother, but a friend who was a bright light to us all.  We love you Ben.