Summer and September in Review

Aug. 3, Kelli was nice enough to invite Josie and I to join her in meeting up with the Oklahoma Barkers for brunch. It was fun to see Rosie and Austin and the two cute great-granddaughters, Ireland and Oaklyn!

Aug 26: Bruce and I with three of our children and three of our grandchildren. Three children are David, Nancy, Josie. Three grandchildren are Amy, Miriam, Phoebe

The Torries (Colleen & LeRon), Heisses (Nancy + 3), Howes (Deklan & Holly), Laytons (Bruce & I, David, Josie)

Bruce and I with four of our children: Josie, Nancy (+ Phoebe), Abra, David.

Our newest great-granddaughter, Iah, is very close in age to our granddaughter Zoë. With the addition of Iah, we have six great-grands. Iah is the latest, but second oldest of the six.

Navratil cousins gathering on Aug. 25 at Darrel & Dixie's house. Rod & Heather and Lori & Jim joined us. We have fun together.

Lonnie arrived just as we were leaving, so Nancy and I ran to have a quick chat with her.

Aug. 28, at the Torries. Me and three granddaughters (Miriam, Zoë, Phoebe) with Colleen, LeRon, Craig

Aug. 29 David and Nancy with their cousin Heather. They are stairstep cousins, born in 1983, 1984, 1985.

Same day: David and Nancy with their dad.

Aug. 23 

Bruce with granddaughter Amy and her two youngest children, sons Arthur and Rowan.

I adore this photo of Miriam with Millie.

The two almost twoers: Phoebe and Millie.

Four of our beautiful granddaughters: Millie, Phoebe, Miriam, Zoë.

This is not from our trip. But I just love this photo of David and his daughter Millie that he snapped a couple of days ago! Aren't they so cute?

And this is from today! Colleen, despite recovering from the car accident, flew with LeRon for their mission reunion. They arrived yesterday, and are flying back home tomorrow. They stopped at our house for a short visit, and to have Josie help Colleen do her hair. She relies on others for many things, and she didn't think LeRon had the touch, so Josie, who also took this picture, helped her with her hair before they went to their reunion. It was nice to be together with my brother Bruce (his wife Sara also came for a short bit, but did not feel ready to be in a picture) and my sister Colleen.

I mentioned my sister's accident, which was a few weeks ago. She was a passenger in a car driven by Glenda, an older friend (about 81 years old) and they were on the way to visit another friend, Martha, for her birthday, and had a sweetbread loaf of some kind in the back seat to take her as a birthday gift. They were driving on gravel country roads, and at an unmarked intersection came into sudden impact with a heavy half ton truck. Glenda's car was a compact. Neither of them saw each other, and since these roads have very little traffic, it was a complete surprise to everyone. Colleen thought she stayed conscious the entire time, but now she wonders if she blacked out for a bit because of what little she can remember. Despite the desertion of the area, one neighbor actually saw the crash and called 911, and so help came quickly. But, funny story, the ladies' view had become completely obscured by the deployment of the air bags, so they could not see the front end of the car at all. If they could see, they would have seen that it was not there. The entire front end had been obliterated. Colleen's car door would open, so the first responders could get her out and load her into the ambulance. But Glenda's door could not be opened, so they were getting out the needed tool to cut the frame and extract her, and she protested, "Don't ruin my car!" And they were all like, "Lady, I am very sorry, but your car is already ruined!" (When LeRon got to the crash site, he retrieved that loaf of sweetbread and it was not damaged much. So he took it to Martha on Colleen's behalf, so her birthday was remembered!)

Failure!

 I am not sure what threw me off, but yesterday I DID NOT GO ON A WALK. First time in 2 years, 8 months, and 18 days. ARRGH. 

I got up and decided not to go on a walk early in the morning because the plumber was coming at 9, and I would be home, so I would go on a walk after he finished and then go to work in the afternoon.

Except the plumber was at the house from 9 AM until 5 PM, because there was a lot of work that he needed to do. So...then I left to pick Josie up from work. And just forgot about walking.

Even I was bored at night, sitting there reading--I could have been reading WHILE walking around the house. I have done that before. But no. I completely forgot. 

I woke up at 3:36 AM because in my sleep I remembered that I forgot to walk!!!! I was thinking, if it was only 11:00, to get up and walk, but it was 3:36, so I tried to sleep. (Without success.) So, I did make sure to do an early walk this morning.

When you fail, what do you do? "Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again."

This was the first day of me walking every day for 20 minutes!

Surprise package!

 Last evening, Josie got a text from her friend Eliza saying that a package addressed to ME had been delivered to our old house in Orem. What? We have not lived there for ten years. And our house has changed hands from the Botts to the Metros to the new family--I did not know who. Who would send me a package? I felt like anyone who knew me well enough to want to send me a package would know that I didn't live at that address anymore.

Josie got the contact information for the people in our former house, and I texted her, expressing my amazement that someone would send ME a package THERE. I wondered to her where the package came from. She sent me this picture:

And I was immediately laughing because I knew what was in it!!

Heather Brown moved from that neighborhood even before we did. I feel like they moved as soon as their oldest daughter Stephanie finished high school. She and Patrick were the same age. So, 2007? We moved in 2013. 

When I was in New Zealand for the viola congress, I had a sore throat and went in search of cough drops. Usually, at home, I would use lemon Halls. No such thing in NZ, but I found some butterscotch (!!) Vicks and that flavour seemed just weird enough that I bought some to try, and they were good. The flavour was surprisingly tasty and still soothing. 

I liked them so much that when I ran out of them, I looked to see if I could buy them online anywhere. They were actually made in Australia, and I could buy them, but the shipping costs were truly exhorbitant!! So I gave up on that idea!

And then, Heather and her husband were living in Australia, and just before they were due to move back to the US, I kind of jokingly asked if she would bring some back for me. She did--and also she bought some for herself and really liked them. So we bonded over butterscotch cough drops.

Fast forward many years, and apparently, the Browns must have been to Australia again, though I have been out of contact and did not realize it. Until this package! And I just knew it would have the familiar blue package of the Butterscotch vicks, because what else would she send me?

And that is what it was! She wrote a sweet note and sent me a package of them, and I was just so touched. It made me so happy, that she would be in Australia and think to buy me a package of something just because she knew I liked them, and bring them home, and then mail them to where she thought I was. And how sweet of Michaeline, who lives in that house now, to think to herself, "Maybe Irene knows this person..." And then Irene told her daughter Eliza, who texted Josie, and I got to go and pick up my package.

I just felt so special to have that chain of people do a good deed for me! It really touched my heart!