Food: The evolution of Pioneer Trek

Seth is our third kid to participate in Pioneer Trek. And while the idea has remained the same, the details have evolved over time. For those who may not know, Trek is an experience where youth in our church re-enact the journey the pioneers made across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. They dress in pioneer clothing, pull handcarts, and walk. And walk. And walk. They walk for three or four days, camping along the way in "families" with a "ma" and "pa" and several siblings.

Just how authentic the whole thing is seems to vary, depending on where the event takes place, who the stake president is, and who is in charge. Shulamith went on Trek when she was 15. She looked adorable in her pioneer dress and bonnet, but I worried she'd starve. Back then in Washington, the leaders wanted to make the experience as realistic as possible. So they let the kids get hungry. One day, other than water and a piece of fruit, they didn't get food all day. That night, each kid had to catch his or her own chicken, put a cone around its neck, chop off its head, pluck its feathers, and boil it! And they were hungry enough to do it.

Several years later, Eli went on Trek with our stake in Montana. They went to Martin's Cove in Wyoming, and this time, the stake president felt strongly that the kids be well fed. No more slaughtering their own chickens or walking all day long without food. Eli said the food was decent, and they never went hungry. Who's to say if this took away from the whole experience, but I for one was glad to know my son was fed.

And then came Seth. Two weeks ago, he went on Trek with our stake here in Utah. They traveled all the way to Martin's Cove, Wyoming, the same place Eli went. Apparently, this particular stake believes in gourmet Trek food. One meal included brisket with "amazing" barbecue sauce, corn bread with honey butter, homemade potato chips, and salad with Olive Garden dressing. Then one morning they had crepes with cinnamon and sugar and homemade jam. Seth never ate so well in his life! Coming from our family, that's not saying a lot, but still.

Trek is an incredible experience, regardless of the way food is handled, and I'm glad Seth got to go. Right up there with EFY, it has been the highlight of his summer so far.

"It's not like I'm on vacation when I'm there."

As many of your know, we now have a world traveler in our family. His name is Isaiah, and a year ago this month, he landed the first job he applied for following his graduation from Westminster College with a computer science degree. He works for a company whose amazing software brilliantly handles registration and session access control for large conventions all over the world. Isaiah is an onsite tech specialist, so he needs to be, obviously, onsite. When he was interviewing, they asked him if he would be okay traveling around 75% of the time during the busy season. "That's what is most appealing about this job," was his reply.

And that is a very good thing! In the past year, Isaiah has traveled to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Nashville, San Diego, Orlando, Boston, Dallas (several of these multiple times), and others I'm likely forgetting. Internationally, he's gone to Milan, Quebec, Melbourne, and Toronto.

Are we jealous? No. Well, maybe a little. Mostly we are just happy for him. Not many 24-year-olds get to travel this extensively. He always reminds us, though, that "It's not like I'm on vacation when I'm there." Yep, we tend to forget that part. When he's onsite, he generally has to be in the hotel/convention center by 6:30 a.m. each day in order to prep everything before people begin to arrive. He works very long days, often not leaving the center until 7 or 8:00 p.m. Then he has four or five hours to go to dinner (seriously extravagant meals!), and see some of the city before crashing into bed, often past midnight, only to get up and do it all over again the next day.

There are some wonderful perks, though, beyond the travel opportunity. Often clients treat employees from Isaiah's company to various activities depending on the city. While in Orlando, he got to go to Walt Disney World, and in Nashville, he got to go to the Grand Ole Opry. Sadly, until he got there, he didn't even know what the Grand Ole Opry was, which speaks to my woeful lack of parenting, obviously. How could he not know that?
After his first couple of months, his boss asked him, "So how do you like all the travel," to which he responded, "I love it!" Then the boss said, "I'll ask you again a year from now and see what you say." Truth is, after a year, he would say exactly the same thing. Flying has lost all its appeal for sure, but he still loves to travel, and in fact, he feels like a "boring, I wanna die office worker" if he has to stay here in the Draper office very long.

So what wonderful trips are in store this summer and fall? I know he's going to Vegas and San Francisco in August, and then  possibly Cancun in September, Dubai in November, and (as Barney would say) ...wait for it....Berlin (!) in Janaury. Let's go back up to the question I asked above: Are we jealous? Those who know me well also know my dream of going to Germany, but in case you don't, I wrote about it once here. So if that trip comes true for him in January, I might be a tad jealous. But mostly I'll just be happy.

And proud. So proud of him.

"IRL": But what if it's weird?

Last week I went to my favorite breakfast place in Salt Lake City, Park Cafe, and enjoyed a lovely breakfast with two people I had never met before. Both were friends I knew online, but until last week, not face to face. Each time I prepare to meet an online acquaintance “In Real Life,” a tiny bit of apprehension accompanies my stomach. “What if it's weird?” I always wonder whether, “IRL,” these people will be the way I imagined them. Will they look like their online photos? Will their personalities resemble their online characters? Will it be awkward?

I don't stress too much about this anymore because I've done it so many times, but there's always a tiny bit of uncertainty. I remember the first time I met an online acquaintance face to face. It was back in the late 80s, the pre-internet days, when the only way to communicate online was through an online service as a part of a discussion group or “forum.” The one we used was called GEnie, and I was active in several forums there: parenting, religion, and politics (shocking, I know).

Gerald and I had “met” and become friends with a guy named Ike from South Dakota in a religion forum, and he was visiting the Pacific Northwest and wanted to meet up. Back then people were extremely wary of this type of thing. Online communication was new; stories circulated of face-to-face meetings with frightening consequences. I wasn't particularly worried about meeting Ike, but I was glad Gerald was going with me. It was wonderful! Ike was exactly the way I imagined him, even physically, and back then online forums were text only. He had presented himself online with total transparency. His wife was lovely as well.

Then there are Susie and Holly, women I met on GEnie parenting and religion forums, respectively, way back when. It was easy to get together with Holly because she happened to live in Seattle when we lived in Mt. Vernon. Susie was in Denver, but she actually flew to Seattle for a special event in my life, even though we had never met previously IRL. In both cases, that anxious feeling was present, but only until we laid eyes on each other, hugged tight, and continued right where our online conversations had left off.

So far, all my initial meet-ups with online friends have been extremely positive, and last week was no exception. As one of those with us remarked, “When we talk for 2 1/2 hours over breakfast, I think you can safely use it as evidence that we enjoyed ourselves.” Indeed! These two were fun and fabulous. I hope we can do it again soon.

Control your tongue, Shulamith!

So just over two years ago, I posted this article about the history of braces in the Erichsen-Webster Family. At that time, I believed Seth was our final kid to experience the fun of a mouth full of metal and the accompanying pain.

I was wrong.

Nearly a week ago, Shulamith joined the rising number of adults receiving orthodontic treatment. Her story is somewhat unusual. She actually already had braces as a kid. She had just eight on her top teeth, which at the time was all anyone thought she needed. And by all appearances, they did an excellent job of straightening her teeth and correcting her overbite, leaving her with a lovely smile.

She was faithful in wearing her retainer too, just as directed, and we thought all would be well. What no one told us, however, is that she has a condition known as a "tongue thrust." It is a  behavioral pattern in which the tongue protrudes through the teeth during speech and swallowing, and even sometimes while the tongue is at rest. She has apparently always had this, yet nobody ever told us.

This makes me just a bit upset because of course we would have done something about it had we known, but well, we can only go forward. So because of the tongue thrust, her overbite is back to the way it was pre-braces, so severe that she can't even close her bottom and top teeth together.

The solution: braces and speech therapy. Yep, Shulamith now has a mouth full of metal, and in the fall she will begin speech therapy to learn to control her out-of-control tongue.

I'm proud of her decision to move forward and get this taken care of, and I think she looks simply beautiful in her braces, though they do indeed make her look younger, especially with her summer freckles. So if you see the photo above and think "teen mom," rest assured, it is just Shulamith, who is plenty old enough to have children.

I can't wait to see the result in just a couple of very short years. Think of Eli's mission, Shulamith. Think how quickly that flew by. They'll be off in no time!