Blast from the past

Okay, so here is the real reason that I decided to start a blog. Because you can say so much more here than you can on facebook - and anyone that knows me knows that I love to talk.

These past 2 weeks really took me back to my childhood in a couple of ways

First of all some of my high school friends and I got together and played board games and visited. There were 3 couples (6 people). 4 of us went to high school together and the other 2 husbands (poor guys) didn't know anyone. They were both great sports about the whole thing. The games we played were sooo fun! We played "Heimlic & Company", "Trans America" and "Cash and Guns", sorry about turning the last one into a PG13 game :( . We get a new game every year at Christmas and I never know which one to get - now I have 3 years worth of ideas here. I had such a blast seeing friends that I haven't seen for about 20 years. I can't wait to get together again . . . . soon I hope. Sorry Ann, I am still not big on Karaoke but Amy and I will listen to everyone else sing.

The second thing that took me back was this past Sunday when I went to my Young Women leaders mission farewell (er, I mean, what was formerly known as a farewell). It was in a building that I went to when I was 13 - 15 years of age. As my husband and I were sitting there all kinds of memories came flooding back to me. While the sacrament was being passed I remembered as a kid I would think "if so and so passes me the sacrament then that is a sign that we are meant for each other. I will not be naming "so and so" in order to protect the innocent. Needless to say we weren’t meant for each other because I am married to an awesome man who was never there to pass the sacrament to me. Come to think of it, when I was 13 he was in the Navy. WOW! Sorry to clue everyone in on your age Dan.

I remembered one fast Sunday a lady stood up to bare her testimony. (I will not mention her name because I don't want Santa to read this and give her a lump of coal for Christmas) she started in on how Santa is not real and parents should not lie to their kids by telling them that he is real. Poor lady, she was probably mad at santa because he never gave her anything good, that's what you get for not believing. Funny thing is, about 2 minutes after I told my husband about this the first missionary to be got up and introduced his topic "being honest to your fellow men." My husband laughed and said "uh oh, everyone better plug their kids ears". Then again, how many kids actually listen in sacrament meeting anyway?

The last memory is a little bit more on the serious side. I attended a funeral in this chapel of a man who was a husband and father of a young family. The 4 children were very young at the time of his death (if I remember correctly they were 6 months – 7 or 8 years). As I sat there thinking about this extremely sad event it made me realize how precious life is. How important it is to tell and show our families how much we love them and how lucky we are to have them with us here on earth. I thought about how blessed I am to have my husband here even after 3 military deployments – 1 during the gulf war, 9 months after we were married, and 2 within the last 3 years. I also thought about how lucky we are to KNOW that we can be together as a family even after this short time here on earth.

Woops! That got kinda sappy. Next time I post I will introduce you all to my “most awesomest family ever” – That, by the way, is the name my oldest daughter chose.