A Few Days in California

Last week I flew to California to visit my cousin Shelly who is in the hospital with Acute Leukemia. She was just finishing a week of chemo, 12 hours on and 12 hours off. It was very difficult to see her suffer. I spent two nights in the extra hospital bed in her room. It brought back memories of better times in college when we slept in our small dorm room. We talked about things I have never talked about with anyone else before. I wanted to be positive and uplifting but my own sorrow and questioning kept me very sober. She has a wonderful family who has rallied around her and it was uplifting to be around them. I love the Wallwork Family and they have been a part of my life since I was born. They all had an easier time being positive than I did. I love Shelly so much and want the best for her. I drove to Fairfield from Fresno for about three hours and that gave me time to really think. I thought about lots of things. I am still thinking. Maybe I will be able to share those thoughts another time.

I also attended a Fairfield High Band reunion for the years that Mr. Jones directed the band. He has had a rough few years and the reunion was for him, to show him appreciation for what he did back in the seventies and eighties for all of the members of band. He had called me several times wanting me to come and I told him I couldn't. When I knew I was going to see Shelly, I decided to surprise Mr. Jones. I told him on the phone that I had a surprise for him and he asked what it was. I told him it wouldn't be a surprise if I told him. He said he loved surprises. I walked into the restaurant and he stared at me and then started laughing. Well he was very surprised and happy that I came although I think he had a hard time accepting that I was 50 not 15. It was a wonderful night full of tributes and slide shows. He seemed very pleased with all the attention. I didn't know very many people there but still had fun talking and hearing band experiences.

I went to church the next morning to the Ward I grew up in. It was great to be there and my Bishop (Bob Troub) and his wife were the speakers. It was so much fun to hear them and talk with them after the meeting. I told Bishop Troub thanks for teaching me to water ski. I really had a great church experience there during my teenage years.

After church, I drove to Santa Clara to see Robert Ness and his family. I went to Jr. High and High School with him. It was so wonderful to be in his lovely home with his wife Janet and their three beautiful, talented daughters. They took care of me and treated me so well. Great food, great company and some walks down memory lane as Robert drove me around to see where I had lived and gone to school in Sunnyvale and San Jose.

I have been doing a lot of deep thinking since I got back from my trip. I don't have all the answers I am seeking yet but I know for sure that the relationships we develop in our lives, at any point in our lives are important maybe more important than anything else. It doesn't matter if we are related or we met in 7th grade and differences, time and distance do not matter either. We need each other at different times for different reasons. That is why we are here, to love and to be loved and for that I am deeply grateful even in times of sorrow for I cannot imagine it any other way.

Powell Pictures

Lake Powell

We had a great time at Lake Powell with a pretty rough start. We had Patrick and his two friends, Hunter Zimmerman and Parker Roberts along with Annelisa and her four daughters Alix, Ani, Julia, Natalia and two boyfriends, Jason and Kirk. We got to the boat and the new cover was hanging in shreds and the boat was very dirty. Mark also noticed that there was glass all over as the center window was shattered. After spending about two hours cleaning it all up and unloading we went to gas up and told one of the guys to fill up the little boat. It was a new experience for him. We should have realized there was a problem when he didn't swing it wide and almost hit a pump going in. We left for the dock with the big boat and luckly it wasn't crowded at all. We waited and waited but he didn't come down the ramp. Mark started to get real nervous and so we launched the big boat and the driver said he would go find the little boat. Then we saw them at the top of the ramp. As he got to the bottom of the ramp, we could tell that he was not going to be able to back it up. So our driver hoped out of his big truck and put the little boat in the water. We were waiting for them because our batteries were dead and we needed a jump. Mark was getting nervous and stressed and then more nervous. Then I noticed that water was pouring into the cabin. Mark said, it's nothing. I watched more and more water pour in and said I think it is something when Mark remembered that he didn't put the plug in. He put on the snorkel gear and dove down and put the plug in. There was a lot of water in the boat by then. We got the batteries charged, engaged the pumps and started off towards Good Hope Bay. It was quite tense for a while there!

Patrick and his friends took command of the little boat, his first time being the driver and he was excited. He got initiated pretty fast when a thunder bumper roared through as we were going through the narrower part. The waves were the biggest I have seen there, big white caps. We would look back at the little boat bouncing around and taking water over the front and over the sides. Patrick was funny to watch trying to control the boat. After a while Mark noticed that Pat didn't have the trim all the way down. That helped a little but it was still pretty sketchy. We finally got to Good Hope and it calmed right down. We had mostly glass the rest of the time until we started back on Monday and the same storm came back to torment Patrick. By now he was a seasoned operator and handled it with ease. He drove everyone wakeboarding, tubing and skiing, He really enjoyed it.

We went cliff diving and Jason went up to jump and then took 30 minutes of working up his courage to go. It was pretty funny with all of us yelling at him from the boat and Patrick saying "Will you walk down with shame, or jump with pride". We saw some great jumps and backflips. We went to another cliff the next day and all the girls were jumping off different levels of rocks. Hunter did a perfect backflip from 30 feet. Then Ani jumped off of it and Jason danced around again working up his courage and finally jumped after Ani did it twise. It was really fun to watch.

It was a great trip for Annelisa who has lost her fear of things and wanted to jump off the cliff too, but I wouldn't let her. Mark still thinks she should have tried it. We all had a great time and I was so happy that Annie got to have a wonderful family vacation.

Pictures to follow.

High School Revisited

Annelisa and her girls flew in from Seattle area for a 10 day vacation. We tried our best to show them a good time. To start we had dinner with Teresa and Michelle. It is crazy that we were all in Draper at the same time. We told lots of stories of our past exploits together in high school and before. We laughed and wanted to cry. Who knew we would all grow up and go our separate directions but get together 32 years later and have so much to say! Guests need to come from different states so Teresa and I can see each other even though we live in the same city. I love reuniting with friends and I am so blessed have such wonderful friends in my life.

It's a Small World

Today I took Patrick to Dr. Noh for a consultation about his missing tooth and getting an implant. The doctor said he is too young and Patrick needs a bridge and veneers to attach the bridge. This same doctor did Daniel's and Natalie's teeth several years ago and I knew he was from Korea. As he was working on Patrick, I mentioned that I had a son learning Korean in LA on a mission. I was about to explain about our church sending missionaries, when the doctor said, "That was my mission and I saw your son last Tuesday." Dr. Noh was in LA where he has another office and he went to the World Cup soccer game broadcast and saw the Elders passing out flyers and talked to them.

This is what Mitchell wrote in his weekly email on Monday:

"On Tuesday, Korea played in the World Cup at 11:00 am so we went to the big gathering and passed out a ton of our English Class flyers. There were two huge tvs and hundreds of people. I didn't know there were so many Koreans in Korea Town. They love soccer and everyone was so happy when they scored, that's when we handed out the most flyers. There are all these taco trucks here parked on the side of the road and they all have tvs playing the world cup."

Granted we live in Utah and most people know about missionaries but still it was a tender mercy to talk to someone who has seen Mitchell in the last week. Patrick with all this stuff in his mouth along with the Dr.'s fingers smiled the best he could. We were both excited to hear about Mitchell.