Traditions

Sometimes it is hard to do things, but nevertheless, it is right to do them. We had our annual Easter Party today. It is early, but some of the family will be gone for Spring Break. We had a wonderful time. The kids had a blast. They are good to put up with Gramma's coded eggs. This year we added orange eggs that anyone could capture. It was WAY fun to be together.

Such a sight..

You would never believe me if I told you how many times I have tried to get a great picture of the deer that roam around Eastern Bountiful. I get my camera ready, I roll my window down way ahead, but as soon as my car slows down, they dash away. Not so this week. I rolled my window down way ahead, and got my camera all zoomed in before I got close. I barely slowed down once I had passed them and circled back. This house is next door to my school. So there you go. Ought to put a smile on anyone's face.

16 Treatments

I have had this post in my head for a while, and was inspired to finally do it by the great message included with this picture.

There is a talk in the Ensign from January, written by Elder Christopherson. He tells about the time in his life when he was having a lot of financial difficulties. It seemed to go on for quite a while. He tells the story of how his mom helped him through this. In the 1950's his mother survived radical cancer surgery, which had been followed by dozens of painful radiation treatments. She recalled to him that her mother had taught her something during that time that had helped her ever since. She said that she was so sick and so weak that one day she said to her mother, "Oh, Mother, I can't stand having 16 more of those treatments." Her mother said, "Can you go today?". She said, "Yes." Her mother said, "Well, honey, that's all you have to do today." Elder Christopheron's mother told him that it had helped her many times when she needed to remember to take one day or one thing at a time.

We don't have to live our whole life today, whether it is pain, or sorrow, or the challenges that come our way. Today we only have to get through this one.

THINGS

The week that we moved Dad to a care center was one of the hardest weeks of my life. The day we moved him went pretty well. He was quiet as we made the change. I followed him in my car and remember thinking, "It doesn't matter where I serve him, it just matters that I do serve him". I am grateful for that thought, but I had no idea how hard it was going to get. He was OK the first couple of days, but soon he was hating it desperately. It was hard because I felt I needed to spend more time there as he was learning to live without someone sitting at his side to tell him what time it was every five minutes. It was also hard because I felt so guilty. The Saturday before he passed away, he was begging us to take him home. I tried to explain to him that happiness isn't a place. His home is just "a thing". Happiness is inside of us. He wasn't particularly happy at home either. He didn't want to understand this. He wanted what he "knew", and that was all that mattered to him. Saturday we finally emptied the condo. Every single thing that my parents held near and dear while they were "in this life" is no longer there. Every shelf is empty. All of the closets are bare. Their things are scattered among the people they loved and loved them in return. All that is left is stacked in their garage. One pile is for the DI, and one for the dump. You can consider me to be an expert when I tell you that it is heart wrenching to sort through every single thing that was valuable to some one's life after they have gone. I am grateful for the things that I have with me that remind me of them. I am also grateful for our wonderful family, both near and far, that helped me through this process. It would not have been possible without their love, support, and help. I am especially grateful that those piles in the garage are very small, and so much of what was theirs is now being loved by someone that loved them.

Express Anger Responsibly

Because I spend a lot of time talking to kids about handling their anger, I can only assume that this is something that lots of people feel challenged by. So in an effort to give variety to my posts, I am throwing in a little "Life Skills 101". Here are some ideas for avoiding the loss of control when you are frustrated.
1) Take a break. Calm down before you respond. At school we call this GPS. GET calm, then focus. PLAN with self and others. SOLVE or start again. How does one calm down? Take deep breaths or go to the "happy place" (this is not the frig). This is that happy state in your mind when everything is calm and peaceful. Also exercise, counting to ten or one hundred, you get the idea.
2) Start with "I". We call these "I feel..." messages. Rather than saying "YOU so and so, YOU did this or that". Say, "I am confused when you..." or "I am frustrated". People generally can't argue about how you feel. There may be some that do, or it might not work. But, at least you get to express your feelings in a way that is as least argumentative as possible.
3) Don't look back. FOCUS on SOLUTIONS, not the past.
4) Anger is secondary. Usually anger is not the first emotion. Usually hurt, fatigue, hunger, pain, or other problems are the real emotion. Make sure you know. For me, just figuring out what is really going on with me, takes away the anger.
5) Decide that angry yelling is not allowed. We are never sorry for the things we DID NOT say. Apologies are always ok, too.
6) Listen to yourself. Record yourself sometime and see how you sound. Words can be very hurtful.
7) Write a note. If you are too emotional to speak, put together a nicely worded note.

Grading the predictions...

My "conservative prediction" was better than my "brave prediction", AND it was almost right on. Governor Romney did win or take second in every state except North Dakota. Who knew he wouldn't do so well there? He did win the most states, the most votes, and the most delegates. ALSO, he far and away gave the best speech of the night. He was gracious enough to congratulate his competitors. He managed to say something nice and positive about every single one of them. So in Ohio, which before Tuesday, was a "must win" for Senator Santorum, became a "must win" for Governor Romney before the night was over according to the pundits. Then he won it. According to the media, his wins are always called "ugly" or "squeakers", but a win is a win, and they are stacking up for him. Many good states ahead. Utah, California, Delaware, Maryland, and DC are all winner take all, and I suspect they might favor Romney. AND.......there is an Alabama poll out there today that has him ahead by nine. On to the 13th...

Somebody's getting a surprise.....

Predictions for Super Tuesday

I am ecstatic today because "Romney Central" replied to one of my tweets. It was concerning the massive whining about the Romney money advantage. I was trying to point out to the campaign that they needed to correct the perception that "Romney Money" means "Romney Money". He has not been spending his own personal fortune, yet, this time around. He did spend 30-40 million of his own money in 2008. He has OUT RAISED his opponents. So.... because he has more financial support, more endorsements, and better organization, his opponents are whining/implying that he is "buying" the election. This is simply not true, and I felt they needed my wisdom on this matter.

I am going out on a limb here and making my predictions for tomorrow's big race. There are ten states on the line tomorrow. Romney is certain for 7. He is second place in the other three. I am constantly amazed at the lack of credit he gets for what he has done. Isn't it interesting that Speaker Gingrich is winning in his home state with a dismal 38%, and Romney is running in second place?? Not Senator Santorum! This is surprising since Georgia is such a southern state. Anyway my conservative prediction is that Mitt will win or take second in every state. My brave prediction is that he is going to take everything except Georgia and Oklahoma. I will only qualify this by saying that if he loses Tennessee, it is ONLY because the voting that was done early skewed it for Mr. Santorum. There you go! Remember, you read it here first.