Archive for September, 2006
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I've posted our photos from Grandma Reese's funeral to our Picasa account. View them by clicking here (there's a slideshow available too).
The event was well attended by the families of Margaret's four children. It was also nice to be in Oregon on a sunny weekend, although the traffic getting around Portland on a Friday afternoon was enough to make me swear never to move back. We were able to stop in Gresham and see my brother Nathan and his family, as well as visit friends in Sherwood that we knew from Kansas. It was a nice trip. The kids went ballistic after emerging from an eight-hour drive, but that was to be expected.
September 28th, 2006
There aren't many bloggers that I know of up in my immediate area. Chalk it up to my county's farflung population (less than eight people per square mile) or the infamous backwoodsey character of North Idaho inhabitants, in any case I haven't found many online writers who identify themselves with my home town. The only exception to that is Morialekafa, a retired professor who regularly writes (raves) on the subject of our country's current political leadership (reading his site, it won't take you long to determine which side of the debate he falls on).
I occasionally drop by Morialekafa's blog to see if he's posted anything regarding local issues. He has written briefly about our county fair, which is the rural answer to perpetual social isolation. Today he stayed on his favorite theme, but amidst the political speech made a foray into humor which gave me a good laugh. Enjoy....
Continue Reading September 27th, 2006
My wife's grandmother passed away last week. We drove the family down to Oregon over the weekend to attend her funeral service and visit with family. The weather was marvelous and made a beautiful backdrop for her burial next to her first husband, Dar.
For me, this is the third death of a close family member that I have ever experienced. Because I am very young compared to people the age of my grandparents, it is difficult to conceive of their lives in totality. I only knew a very small part of Margaret's life: six years out of nearly nine decades. It is impossible to even begin to understand who she was, and what she learned in her time. When I look at pictures of her as a girl, newly married, or with a small family, I can't help thinking that young people are so ignorant of the elderly. As a group we treat the very old with condescension, like children. We exhibit curiosity about their experiences (mostly related to historical events and technology that we find quaint), but I don't think we truly realize the extent of their wisdom, and the paucity of our own. What a loss it is when a person who has lived a full life passes away....
Continue Reading September 25th, 2006
According to one source, there are more than 70 million blogs now in existence. Of course, not all those are active, but Technorati alone logs about 1.2 million new posts each day from blogs searchable from that site.
So among all the chatter it's always refreshing to find a voice that resonates with your own thoughts and ideas. For me, the best online writers are those that can describe their own personal journeys in clean, thoughtful prose. I've found one such writer in MCB, the author of the blog Rounding 60. She has been writing detailed, beautiful entries about her experiences since January 2006. Here were some of my favorites:
Bonne Annee from St. Barth's - her opening entry
Tea and Oranges and Suzanne - a tribute to a friend
Fantasy, Reality and Love
Reading writers like MTB reminds me why I write, and what someday I hope to achieve in my own writing. Check it out.
September 20th, 2006
Kayla and I went in on Friday to take the first ultrasound for our baby that is due in January. Though I had a hard time distinguishing anything in the fuzzy pulsing black-and-white monitor, the nurse assured us that the baby will be a girl. Hooray! I wouldn't be disappointed with another boy, but we had a girl name we liked but no boy name, so this will be much more convenient! Baby Madeleine is already shaping up to be a beautiful child. We look forward to her arrival with great joy!
September 13th, 2006
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I've really appreciated the posts of my friend Jared on this site, and one of his comments made me think a lot about the connection between my belief in organized religion and my belief in God. Also, I had a wonderful late-night conversation with my oldest brother a couple of weeks ago where we reopened the topic of my "de-conversion" from Mormonism, something I haven't been able to really discuss with anyone else in the family in the five years since I began this journey.
I've spent a couple of years now thinking, retracing my steps, trying to decipher my motivations for leaving Mormonism at a time in my life when doing so meant giving up so much I had hoped and dreamed of since childhood. I've come up with quite a list of "push" and "pull" factors (which I hope to detail in a later post). However, never along that path of introspection did I stop to consider how the demise of my belief in the LDS church was related to my subsequent rejection of belief in God. In the wreckage of my failed faith, I found no room for a divine purpose, and hence, no room for God....
Continue Reading September 11th, 2006
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Kayla and I have reached a milestone in parenthood: our oldest started school on Tuesday. Hyrum went to pre-school last year, but somehow it seems different now that he is embarking on the long and perilous journey of public school education. (Actually I wouldn't mind finding an alternative to public school for him, but our local options are limited).
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I think Hyrum is ready for school. Kayla drove him the first day, and as they stood in line and the teacher said it was time to go in the classroom, he exlaimed "Oh I'm so excited!" Ah, if he only knew.... the next thirteen years would be spent getting up and doing that very same thing. I shouldn't laugh though, since by entering the adult world I have committed myself to at least thirty-five years of hard labor, without parole. Of course, I don't remember having a choice in the matter....
Continue Reading September 6th, 2006
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On Sunday I returned from the weekend wedding of my brother Ryan to his new wife, Sarah, in New Mexico.
The Albuquerque area surprised me with its natural beauty. The city lies on a gentle rise in the western shadow of the Sandia Mountains, with the muddy stream of the Rio Grande trickling through the middle of the city. As you head east, you cross a series of hills covered in scrub trees, green grass and bright yellow wildflowers. The area where Ryan’s in-laws live is refreshingly free of tract housing, the order of the day being small acreages with naturally winding dirt roads that conform to the topography. It rained several times during our trip, and several locals commented on the unusually wet summer they’ve received....
Continue Reading September 6th, 2006
