Saturday, May 14, 2016

Star of the Show

More posts about Bitty on stage!



This time was not her class play, but an upper-grade musical based on Charlie Brown comics.  They called it "Life is Good, Charlie Brown."  Bitty was in rehearsals twice a week, only an hour and a half each time, for only about 2 or 2 1/2 months - when I think of really how few hours that is especially when dealing with about 45 kids...I'm pretty amazed.  Bitty got to play Lucy, which she was over the moon about.  Okay, she was one of three Lucys - because of the number of kids, and no kids were turned away, she got to share her roll with two other darling girls, one of whom is actually named Lucy.  They were all great, though of course I delighted most of all in watching my own gal have the time of her life up there under those bright (and hot!) stage lights.  She threw herself into the roll, and everyone who saw her specifically noticed how she stayed in character even when entering and exiting the stage.  You could hear her, she put plenty of expression into her lines, and knew how to get a laugh.  I'm proud!!

This is Skippidy with her little friend Annie; they sat on the floor at watched the whole show with their arms around each other.  







Friday, May 13, 2016

Mamma Update

We just passed mother's day, which made me think I'd like to post about my mom.  There's so little to talk about lately that when something pleasant or memorable happens I want to make sure to record it.

I did see mom on Mother's Day, but her village was so hectic and busy that we really only got to be together for a few minutes. I like to go see my mom on Sundays because of our schedule, but in all honesty it's not the best day - we don't get out of church in time to really get out there and see her before she's off to her own church, and getting out there after her church is done also leaves us little time for a visit before she's off to dinner or we're off to our Sunday evening to-dos.  Mother's Day was no exception - it was a short visit with little recognition from her since she seemed so distracted by the numbers of people coming in and out for visits with their own moms.

Much more pleasant indeed was her birthday, which was a few weeks earlier.  Dad and I met Margaret and my mom at one of our favorite restaurants, The Oasis Cafe on 500 East here in SLC.  It's got such tasty fare that we thought it would be worth the effort of bringing my mom all the way there and dealing with a room buzzing with the noise of many conversations.  Indeed, mom did seem to have a little trouble focusing on any of us because there was so much color and light and movement all around her.  Happily, mom seemed to be taking it all in with great delight and heightened joy.  So often now her emotions seem to be more one-dimensional and much stronger.  This is fun when the emotions are on the positive side, and heartbreaking when they are the opposite. On this fun day she seemed mostly to delight.  Like I said, however, she had trouble finding our faces or seeing us at all.  That is, until Margaret and I began to sing.

Yes, we were in a crowded popular restaurant at lunchtime, surrounded by people.  We didn't sing at the top of our lungs, that's for sure.  We just leaned in together and sang.  I find it absolutely beautiful that my mother will still key in absolutely to music.  That she will almost instantly meet your eyes and sing with you as much as she can, and you can see those pure emotions sweep over her.  We sang things from Oklahoma, from other musicals, and from our childhood favorite, a Broadway show pretty much no one has ever heard of - Really Rosie.  It is the BEST.  A show that uses many of the simple tales of Maurice Sendak to tell the story of a group of kids in NYC playing in their back alley. It is AWESOME and we all know every word.  "I'm Really Rosie....and I'm Rosie Real....."  I absolutely savored that experience of the three of us singing to each other in a quiet circle in the middle of that bustling restaurant.  Dad was our tearful audience.  And our reward was a delicious lunch together.




Trying to get my mom to look at a camera is hard.  That's okay.  She was happy. And so were we.  

By the way, I really love having a sister.  Especially my sister.



Monday, May 02, 2016

Other Happenings

Other things have been happening too....

While I've been traveling through time to high school and back, other things have actually been happening too. One event to mention is my sweet Troy's birthday - a rather quiet affair this year. (And now almost two months ago. Insert embarrassed-face emoji here.)  He really hadn't even picked out a gift yet and I've learned to not try too hard to surprise him.  It's best to just wait and let him figure out what he really wants, so we weren't too sure what to do.  The girls and I ended up having fun by planning a secret breakfast for him - we snuck out for balloons and flowers and made notes for Troy - I pulled them out of the back of the car after he went to sleep and set it up ...so I guess I did have a little surprise for him after all.  It was fun.







Also for Troy's birthday we met up at my favorite little Vietnamese restaurant on State Street for some lunch.  What a surprise it was to bump into my first mission president and his wife, Ron and Ruby Nielsen. Troy definitely had a moment of wondering why the heck his wife started hollering in a tiny little restaurant but figured it out quite quickly.  It was really fun to see them.



We of course enjoyed a very gooey chocolate cake with his parents that evening, and eventually Troy picked out a new and very cool new canvas and leather briefcase that he's been enjoying a lot I think.



Another fun event this spring was seeing a dear old friend, Kristin.  She lived in our neighborhood for a number of years, including during some very emotional times as several of us had babies at the same time as well as going through our friend TL's cancer diagnosis together.  Kristin moved right before TerriLyn passed away, and though she was able to return for the funeral, I haven't seen her since.  A number of events combined to bring her back through Salt Lake and Emily and I were able to meet her for just a half hour at a park, just long enough to share some cookies and catch up just a little on our lives and hug each other a lot.  That was a treat.



A memory I'd like to savor from this season was our church's General Conference, which is broadcast twice a year throughout the world. This was the first year Troy and I put real effort into helping our big kids gain something from the experience.  We usually muscle them into listening to one or two talks each conference - which really isn't much considering that the conference has four two-hour sessions over two days. This time, just as conference was beginning, Troy had a sudden flash of inspiration to....well, pretty much bribe the kids.  He told them that they could earn a prize if they were able to write down the name of every single speaker and at least one thing they talked about.  It ended up being a really wonderful weekend together. The kids really did listen to all of the talks. And on Sunday morning we went to our friends' home for breakfast before watching that morning's session together. I think the kids actually heard a few messages that meant something to them and we really felt good spending the weekend that way.



It's been a very pleasant spring - at least it feels that way right now as I'm looking back at all the happy pictures and blocking out any unpleasant times that I definitely didn't photograph.  ;)