still work to do

Grandma will 104 on June 10th of this year, she's always saying that she can't die yet because she still has work to do.  Quite honestly I've laughed a little when she says that because really, what kind of work does a woman her age do?  Yesterday God taught me a little lesson.  We went to the temple and while I was waiting for Grandma to finish in the bathroom a woman approached me and asked if she could hug me.  I was a little surprised, I've never met her before, but I'd seen her in the lobby when we came in and since it was the temple I said "of course" and gave her a big hug.  She held on tight and began to cry.  She thanked me for bringing Grandma.  I told her she should get a hug from Grandma before she left, she said she would wait in the hall.  When we finished in the bathroom Grandma and I stepped into the hall and Grandma gave this woman a hug.  She introduced herself and thanked Grandma for coming to the temple and setting an example for her.  I was touched.  I don't know what was going on in her life or why it was so important to her, but she was clearly touched by Grandma and showed me that Grandma really does still have work to do.  People we meet at the temple frequently tell me how inspired they are by her but none have touched me quite like the stranger we met yesterday.

Women Prayed at Conference...

Quite honestly I never noticed that women weren't saying the prayers at conference, and it never has mattered to me.  All the recent fuss about women praying and about wearing pants is weird to me.  I just don't get it.  I went to a funeral recently and considered wearing pants because it was in the middle of the day on a Monday so wearing a skirt meant I'd be wearing it to work too, and I hate to wear a skirt to work.  I decided to wear a skirt out of love and respect for the friend who had passed away.  I felt that wearing my best was a good way to show my love for him and his family.  A good dressy skirt is still a step up from dressy pants.  So why wouldn't I do the same for God and wear a skirt to church? 

I just realized that I have wandered off topic...I do have a habit of wandering :).  About prayers at conference...it just seems like such a non-issue to me that I have a hard time even addressing it.  Really?  Why would anyone care who offers the prayer?  Anyway, if you really pay attention in conference you'll notice that women are well respected within the LDS church. 

So now you know what I think about women praying at General Conference, AND what I think about wearing pants to church! 

I made a book...

a photo book that is, you can see it here.  I scanned all the photos in the album I found at my Mom's and put them into a book...it represents many hours of work and I'm really excited about how it turned out!

Below is my favorite photo from the book:

Here it is...

Proof that my grandparents were nudists 65 years ago...

 Grandpa is above, below are my mom and my uncle.

Nudity

Yesterday I took Grandma to the temple and when I drove her home I noticed a photo album on the kitchen counter that I didn't think I'd seen before.  So I opened it and found it was full of old photos of my grandparents.  As I flipped through it I came across one of Grandma with my Mom and my Uncle Pete, Grandma was wearing very short shorts and a halter top that in the black and white photo blended pretty nicely with her skin making her look almost topless.  As Mom and I were laughing at it I noticed that Mom actually was topless, when I teased her about it she told me that Grandma was always funny about clothes and really truly wanted to join a nudist colony so they were frequently naked at home, and when it would rain they would all go outside naked to play in the rain!  I had heard before that Grandma was very interested in the nudist colony, but I don't think I'd heard this story before!  There were several photos of Mom topless (all before the age of about 7)....the very last page of the album Mom has titled "photos that probably shouldn't have been taken"....so funny!  There a couple of Mom and her brother as toddlers completely naked and then one from a distance of my dear Grandpa!  Fortunately it's a side view and he appears to be squatting to maybe fix something?  Anywho...who knew that in the late 40's and early 50's my grandparents were walking around the woods of New York naked?  Too funny...no wonder my mother has always complained that Grandma is embarrassing!

Single Adult Activities...

I recently attended my first single adult activity.  I decided since I couldn't get anyone to go with me that my first event (all by myself) would be a fireside.  I thought that since I'd be going alone it wouldn't be too bad to sit alone in the chapel.  I deliberately went a little late so I could go into the chapel after the meeting had started and miss the pre-meeting socializing, but not so late that I missed the opening prayer and would be REALLY noticeable.  It worked like a charm.  I walked in and the only seats available were next to men sitting alone or on the "widow's pew"....I opted for the widow's pew, didn't want to give any men the idea that I was interested without first determining if they were worthy of interest, if you know what I mean!  The one thing I hadn't counted on was refreshments.  When everyone started filing out to the gym for refreshments I had a dilemma...go in all alone and try to find someone to talk to or just head for home.  I sat in the pew watching people leave and looking for someone I might be able to make friends with, when I realized the woman in front of me was doing the same thing.  When she turned my way I introduced myself and told her she was my new friend, like it or not. She said that would be great!  We went into refreshments together.  They had arranged the seating in the gym in circles and all the circles were full except one, where a man was sitting alone.  We sat with him....oh my....he was bitter, negative man.  We have nicknamed him Ned because of his negativity.  When we headed to the parking lot we stopped to visit in front of somebody's truck, I assumed it was Sharee's and I think she must have thought it was mine, but eventually a man came out to drive it away and stopped to visit for a few minutes, he was very friendly and positive and restored our hope that there might be some interesting single men in Idaho.  Sharee and I visited for quite awhile and found that we have a lot in common, so we decided to tackle the single scene together...it's so nice to have a friend to go to the meat market with, I mean, single events!

The next event we went to was a dance...oh my!  I was worried I'd be a wallflower but I danced a lot...with old men.  On the bright side, old men can really dance and I'm learning some new dance moves!  Ned was there and we watched him follow around a couple of tall blondes, and may or may not have formed some opinions about what kind of man he is.  We met a man named Larry who drives an old limo with American flags on the roof and in each window, along with Romney/Ryan signs...how do we know what he drives?  Well he took us out to see it of course.  Sharee and I agreed, there was NO WAY we were getting in that car if he offered us a ride! So Larry was a little odd, but a decent dancer, however after Jennifer danced with him (Jennifer is another new friend) she told us he'd been telling her about conversations he'd had with Michael the archangel (one of the reasons we will not get in his car).  I have tried to find a photo of a car like his to post, but no luck...drat.  Poor Sharee danced with a man named Kevin who didn't want to let her go (who can blame him?) but unfortunately she wasn't quite brave enough to say no so she ended dancing about 6 dances in a row with him.  Jennifer and I met a couple of men while she was dancing and Jason was kind enough to cut in and give her a chance to break free!  When  Jason and Paul came in we thought they looked a little weird and well, maybe they are a little, but very nice and we had some fun playing games on Paul's tablet (he's a gamer).

Wanna know what I think about homosexuality?

I think calling it a choice oversimplifies the matter....technically being fat is my choice, but it's not like I woke up one morning and decided to be fat.  It's something that I've been battling (more or less) for most of my life. Of my four sisters, two of them happen to have a different mother, and those different genetics seem to make it easy for them to be thin.  The two sisters who share my genetics more completely struggle with weight....does that sound like it's a choice?  When I applied to BYU as a psychology major over 20 years ago, they sent me a copy of the psychology department's newsletter which had an article I have never forgotten.  It was about a study with pregnant mice, the result was that when the pregnant mouse experienced stress (electrical shock), the babies were more likely to be gay.  That doesn't sound like a choice to me, does it to you?  Where the choice is then, is in how we live our lives, we are what we are, fat or gay or maybe alcoholic, or whatever....we must choose to either fight our natural instincts (the natural man) or give into it.  Today I read this blog post by LZ Granderson, which reminded me that I've been thinking about writing this post for a long time so today is the day!  I also like to read Josh Weed's blog.  You should check it out.  I grew up with three kids who all came out of the closet as adults and I was surprised by none of them...how would their lives be different if their parents had been as supportive as Josh's?  I hope that all parents of gay children can follow their example.

So that's my soap box speech for today...hope you enjoyed it!