Prom 2010

Smiles all around, as Eli and Kara pose for pictures before prom last night. They were one of ten couples who celebrated this event together. All 20 kids, along with parents, converged on one house for pictures and appetizers before the kids took off for the high school. Following the dance, all 20 of them went to Ihop for breakfast and then to another home to watch a movie. By the time Eli got Kara home and returned home himself, it was nearly 4:30 a.m. I vaguely remember my conversation with him; I was in that groggy state somewhere between sleep and consciousness. Church at 11:00 came all too soon for Eli, but he got up and went. Then he had a BYC meeting, and then he and Gerald went home teaching. Now, although incredibly tired, he's busy writing a research paper due tomorrow. A very long day for sure with insufficient sleep, but judging from this smile, I believe it was well worth it.

Sir Greens A Lot

When we think about holidays, most of us (I would guess) would not place Saint Patrick's Day on our list of, say, top five favorites. Christmas, my personal favorite, most likely ranks first for most people. Thanksgiving, because it marks the start of the Christmas season, is a also a favorite. Easter, or even Halloween, might make the list. Maybe Valentine's Day or 4th of July. But Saint Patrick's Day? Isn't that the day we search our closets at the last minute attempting to find something with a touch of green, and call it good? And that is only if we happen to remember.

This is not the case for Seth. Seth loves St. Patrick's Day. As far as I know, he doesn't' have an ounce of Irish blood flowing through his veins from either side of the family, yet this particular holiday brings him great delight. First, green is his absolute favorite color. One day last fall when Shulamith and Matt were here, Seth donned his favorite outfit combination, exactly what you see in this photo: bright green shorts and t-shirt. So impressed with himself, he declared: This is my Saint Patrick's Day outfit, but I just can't wait until March to wear it!" Matt affectionately nicknamed him "Sir Greens A Lot," and that name has stuck between the two of them ever since.

This March 17th, Seth arose early and dressed himself in his green attire in honor of the day. He reminded me, as he had every single day of the preceding week, to buy green apples for his party at Cub Scouts that night. That I did. The party was apparently a huge success, complete with Irish music and green food. In addition to Seth's contribution of green apples, the boys enjoyed pickles, celery, green cupcakes with green frosting, green rice crispy treats, and green sherbet punch.

When I picked Seth up from after the party, I decided he should probably have some "real" food, so we went to Wendy's where they were giving away complimentary green Frostys with kids' meals. Well, if this wasn't the green icing on the cake! Seth was thrilled.

Walking to the car, with determination in his voice, he exclaimed: "Mom, I just love Saint Patrick's Day."

Finally!

Romance all around.
Seth and his favorite new brother.

Mom and Dad
Together forever.
Pure delight!
Picturesque!
Isn't this one romantic!

Okay, they've only been married three weeks. That's not really so long, but it feels like forever that I've been waiting for wedding pictures that I could post here. I've been able view them on the photographer's website for over two weeks, but only yesterday did I get them in a format that would save on my computer.

I love this picture of my five (now six!) beautiful children!

Nine-year-old Mentality

So it's a very good thing that Shulamith is not easily offended, that she understands a nine-year-old's mentality, and that she knows very well that her baby brother loves her dearly. Following is the email Seth sent to her yesterday:

Dear Shulamith

Hola senior Shulamith. It's Chloe's B-Day and I had the best day with her.
But I wish you were here to celebrate cause then we would play
Cribbage.Mom never plays Cribbage with me anymore. And when you're around
we get to have really good fast food or homemade food. I REALLY REALLY
REALLY REALLY miss Matt because we played Brick Breaker and Metal Slug.
Just for the record I MISS HIM MORE THAN YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I lived
there cause then I could see Matt almost all the time(not you). I hope
I see Matt (and Shulamith) soon.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (to Matt)
Your buddy Seth (to Matt)

P.S. Matt is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brigadoon, anyone?

This past weekend I attended two of the four performances of "Brigadoon," presented by the choral department at Skyview High School. Eli played the role of Angus McGuffie, a resident of Brigadoon, a Scottish village that appears only one day every 100 years as a result of a "blessing," the answer to a prayer from a minister attempting to protect his village from the evils of the world. If the town appears only one day every 100 years, there's hardly enough time for it to be corrupted by any century.

The director noted in her comments in the program that perhaps we all, at one time or another, yearn for a place like "Brigadoon," free from the evils of modern-day society, protected from the sins of the world. Such a place, of course, does not and cannot exist; however, the other part of the "blessing" of Brigadoon--that with love, anything is possible-- certainly does. As an audience, we were uplifted by the energy of the actors, all high school students, who shared with us the message of the power of love to transform. It was delightful. They were delightful. Every one of them.

In my involvement in theatre, I have often heard a saying which circulates among actors: "It is not so much what we give, but what we share. For the gift without the giver is bare." These amazing kids shared with their audience the spirit of Brigadoon.

It caused me to reflect upon the idea of time, how very quickly it would pass if we lived only one day each century. It already flies by faster than I would like. A few days ago, I was telling Lindsey that I wish I could go back eight years. I know, I know....I'm supposed to live in the present. That's always the healthiest place to live. However, I think I'm allowed at least a tiny bit of nostalgia for the past, right? Anyway, I told Lindsey I wasn't asking for a lot. I don't want to go back 20 or 30 years, and certainly not 100! Just eight. Eight short years. Because, well, life was really good then. All five of my kids were still living at home full time. Seth was a wee babe. We spent 3 - 4 nights a week at various sporting events watching Shulamith cheer. It was heaven!

Okay, enough nostalgia. We can't go backward. Only forward. So forward we go, remembering the spirit of Brigadoon. While there is no place on earth free from evil and strife, with love, anything is possible. Thanks to all the cast members for expressing that truth so beautifully in both word and song. And special thanks to my favorite character: Angus!

Cherishing the Silent Forgotten

As I said in an earlier post, my writings on the wedding will come in installments. It's just too big an event to cover all in one post. Soon, I'll even have pictures. I promise! They are so beautiful...just wait until you can see them. Right now, I can only look at them on the photographer's professional website, but soon, I'll have them right here on my computer, so I can upload them to this blog. Soon!

Meanwhile, today I was thinking about all the people who helped us with the wedding, people who were behind the scenes adding support in so many ways, but who could so easily be forgotten. And I want to say thank you.

First, a giant thank you goes to Trudy and her husband Frank. They did several things for us along the way. Shulamith and I have zero creative talent when it comes to artistic design. We are good at many things, but decorating a chapel gym to make it pretty enough for a wedding reception is not one of them. Dazed and confused, we turned to Trudy. Immediately, she was on it. She took Frank out, and together they scoured through craft stores, party stores, etc. Finally, at Hobby Lobby, Trudy had an idea. She called me right then and asked, "Where are you?" I told her I was at the mall eating Arby's with Shulamith, Matt, Luke, and Eli. "I'll be right there," she replied," and within five minutes she and Frank showed up with their idea for table decorations. Right there at Arby's, she laid out a table with an octagon mirror, silver wreath, and crystal candle in the center. We pictured it with a black tablecloth underneath: stunning! We all loved it. Shulamith, Matt, and I went straight to Hobby Lobby and bought nine additional sets.

This was not all Trudy and Frank did for us. As the wedding came closer, it was time to mail out announcements. Because we used black envelopes, and because my handwriting skills are even worse than my decorating skills, we needed white address labels. I don't have a program that prints labels, but Frank does, so I spent three evenings at their house typing in all the names, and then Frank produced the labels.

I thought that would be the extent of Trudy and Frank's wedding responsibilities, but I was so wrong. Because they have a son who lives in West Jordan, they decided to visit him and his family the week of the wedding so they could attend. It was most fortunate for us that they did. Late Friday night, following the Utah reception, it occurred to us that there was no way we could bring all the reception stuff home in the van and still fit all the people (Gerald, Lindsey, Eli, Seth, and me). It was physically impossible. Gerald took a load of reception boxes to the hotel in order to fit us all in the van that night, but how would we ever get back to Billings? Trudy and Frank to the rescue once again. I called Trudy the next morning and asked if they could possibly take home some boxes of reception stuff. That they did. And if that's not enough, the following weekend Trudy organized all the kitchen help (thanks Mandy and Lindsey) for the Billings reception, and Frank showed Gerald how to string wire in the gym from which to hang the lights. Wow!

But they weren't the only ones helping behind the scenes. Our friend Jay volunteered to make mints for the Billings reception. She makes them by hand, one at a time, and they are so yum. She brought them over to the church around noon the day of the reception, and we had to demonstrate serious self control in order to have any left that night. Then there was the photography. We opted not to hire a professional photographer for the Billings reception, so I asked our friends Lisa and Louie. They were ready and willing to help and took pictures through the entire evening.

Not to be forgotten is the issue of hair, both Shulamith's and mine. With the sealing at 11:00 a.m., we had to start early. Shulamith's friend Jena arrived at our hotel room before 5:00 a.m. to begin work on Shulamith's hair. Seven months' pregnant, she was so tired, but she did it anyway, and even did my hair once Shulamith's was done. The following weekend my friend Tiffany came to work on her day off just to do our hair for the reception here.

And what would a wedding be without a cake? My best friend Celeste lives in Texas, but her sister lives in Salt Lake City, and Celeste volunteered Dede to make the wedding cake! Can you believe that? We don't even know Dede (at least we didn't prior to the wedding), but she spent an entire day producing the most beautiful and delicious 4-tier wedding cake, all because she loves her sister, and her sister is my friend.

Last, there is my other best friend, Lindsey. It was a huge sacrifice for her to come to Utah. She had to leave her three young children for four days. Her husband David had to care for those beautiful children all by himself, and in doing so, take time away from the business they own. But when I say that I could not have done without her, I am dead serious. She helped me in so many ways both physically and emotionally; I can't even begin to list them. Most significantly, she sat next to me in the temple during the sealing, so I did not feel alone. I love her very much.

My profound thanks goes to each of you, to Trudy, Frank, Jay, Lisa, Louie, Mandy, Jena, Tiffany, Celeste, Dede, and Lindsey. You are not forgotten. You are cherished.

National Grammar Day, etc.

This morning, Gerald informed me that today is National Grammar Day. Now seriously, what could be a better contribution to my spring break than that? Nothing that I can think of. What a marvelous idea: National Grammar Day, a day to celebrate the many idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of our glorious language. If it weren't spring break, I would definitely show my students my favorite discussion of our language, a video entitled "A Light History of the English Language," by Dr. Eliot Engel. It's a bit dated but still relevant and quite entertaining. My students will have to wait until school resumes next week to see it. It's definitely worth your time if you're so inclined.

What have we done so far to mark this day? Gerald posted his top grammar pet peeves on his Facebook status, and I added a few of my own to his list. This led to a comical discussion among our "friends," mostly focusing on comma usage and pronoun-antecedent agreement. We'll see what else people have to say as the day goes on. From my perspective, there's hardly anything more interesting than grammar, so a big thank you goes to the person who instigated National Grammar Day. What fun!

Other than this, I've done very little today. However, if you look at my "spring break list," you will see that I am well on my way to crossing off many items. So far, I've slept late every single morning. There is really nothing that compares to morning sleep. It's so refreshing and rejuvenating. I've also done P90X doubles every day in addition to walking four miles most days. I wish I could keep this up when school resumes, but often one hour of exercise is all I can fit in when I teach during the day. Yesterday, Gerald and I prepared and froze 20 meals. As often as we eat out, these should last well over a month. On Saturday, we saw the movie Dear John. I loved it although it made me cry, but then what doesn't make me cry these days? This weekend we'll see Valentine's Day.

And as far as regaining my mental and emotional stability, progress is slow but sure. A dear friend gave me some excellent advice. She said no matter how happy we may be about such milestones as marrying off a cherished daughter, change (even glorious change) is still bittersweet. We can celebrate with joy the "sweet" parts, but it is not selfish or silly or strange to grieve for what we have lost. Thank you, Susie. I really needed to hear that.

Tonight? Opening night of Brigadoon. We will be there applauding Eli all the way.

Happy Grammar Day to all!