Rachel, lone hiker

I decided that we would drive to Utah though Colorado one year. When I noticed how close the freeway went to Moab, I couldn't resist an overnight stay so that we could go to Arches. 

After we had seen the easy to see stuff at Arches, I asked the kids what they wanted to do and they decided that they wanted to hike to Delicate Arch even though it was the middle of the day and really warm. Jason had a backpack and he put a bunch of water bottles in it. But as soon as we started out he and Josh were way ahead of me and the triplets. It was hot and the triplets were a little whiney and it was a lot of work getting them all the way to Delicate Arch. There was definitely some resting in the shade on the way there. 

From time to time Jason would look back and I would wave my arms to signal to him that we needed more water, and then he would set a water bottle beside the trail. When we would get to it we would drink it down because we were so hot!

Then on the way back Rachel decided that she was having such a great time and she went faster than Jared and Jenna and got ahead of us. I wasn't worried about it because Josh and Jared were way up in front of us. I figured that she was safe between them and me.

So there she was, this cute little blonde haired girl hiking on the trail "all by herself." She said that people kept asking her if she was ok or if she was lost, and she told them that no, she was with her brothers and her mother! 

My favorite book I had to read for a class

#10Days10Books 

Day 2: Best book I had to read for a class

I thought about this all day long today, and I decided that there wasn't really one best book I had to read for a class, but that there was one best category of books I had to read for a class.

As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't actually read a lot of kid lit books when I was a kid. When I was about eight someone made a comment to me about reading a Nancy Drew book. (Which was entirely appropriate for an 8-year-old.) The commenter felt like the comment was teasing, but in keeping with research that shows that teasing is usually not enjoyed by the recipient, for sensitive 8 year old me the comment felt disparaging. And so I stopped reading kid lit. There was a bookmobile that came to a park near my elementary school, which meant  I got all of my books during that time period unsupervised by any adult. Somehow I migrated towards completely inappropriate adult books, and that's what I read from about 9 years on. And no adult paid attention to what I was reading, except to be impressed that I was reading adult books. 🤦‍♀️

As part of my elementary education program at BYU I had to take a children's literature class. I wasn't very excited, I had decided that children's literature didn't have much value. And so I was very surprised to find out how much I absolutely loved it. I read all of the books that were required for my class and many many more, and that was the start of an adult life of loving kid lit.

So thank you to whoever designed that education program for reintroducing me to the books I should have been reading all along. I wish I could go back to 8-year-old Cindy and give her a hug and tell her to keep reading things that are fun. So glad I finally got back to them. 

(Although A Taste of Blackberries is hardly fun, it's gut wrenching. As was A Bridge to Terabithia which I also just remembered that we also had to read.)

Little Women

#10Days10Books

Day 1: My favorite childhood book

I don't have a lot of memories of childhood books despite being quite the reader. Which is a story for a different time. But one book I do remember and still have is this edition of Little Women. 

I learned to read in 1st grade and whatever reading system they were teaching (I'm pretty sure it was phonics) really worked for me. I quickly became an excellent reader. 

One day when I was still 6 my dad took me to the library and picked out an enormous book for me to read. I told him that I couldn't read it, that it was far too long. He asked how I would read a smaller book. I said "one page at a time." He said that that was the same way that I would read this huge book. 

And so I read Little Women. I was so young that I'm sure much of it went right over my head (Pilgrim's Progress, anyone?) but what I understood I loved. I especially loved the romantic story of Laurie and Amy falling in love in Europe, and the beautiful illustration in the book. 

When I was done reading the book I loved it so much that I wanted my own copy. I had saved up enough money to be able to buy it, and my dad said he'd take me to the bookstore. 

But the bookstore near our house didn't have the right edition, the one with the beautiful picture of Laurie and Amy, so we went to the next bookstore. And the next, and the next. We ended up having to go to another city, probably almost an hour away, to find the right book. 

As an adult I've had some feelings about my dad handing a 6 year old a copy of Little Women and expecting her to read it. But I've always remembered that my very busy father did what it took to find the right book for me, and that means a lot. 

Pecky, the best friend we never had

Someone found a dead bird in front of the house and the kids were pretty distressed about it.  In short order they had found an empty box, put the bird in it, and decided that it must be buried. They also decided that they needed a gravestone, so Jenna painted one and after they buried the box in the front yard, they put the gravestone on top.  Gone, but not forgotten!  ♥️

Family Stories

I can't remember what I was reading, but I lamented that we didn't really have family stories.  The kids disagreed with me, and since then have pointed out every time one of our stories comes up.  I've decided that I need to write them down as they come up, so that I can make a collection of our stories.

Leaving the Beach/Family Reunion

In other news, leaving the beach is not only sad, it's also tons of work.  And since we didn't do that work yesterday evening like rational people might have and we played games instead, I was up super late packing and then fairly early (for me) loading the car, cleaning, etc.  I later slept for 2 hrs in the car which is complete unusual for me and a sign of my exhaustion. 

Rather than complain anymore, though, 😉  here are some good things that happened today. 

1a) I dropped Russ and the kids off at the airport and then needed to go return the van and pick up a (much cheaper) small car.  On a whim I looked at the price of the rental car I had booked, and then searched to see what a new booking would cost. And I save $50 by canceling the existing booking and renting somewhere else!

1b) The one thing I hadn't taking into consideration was that I was going to have to return my rental car and then haul all of my stuff on a shuttle back to the airport, then to the new rental car company. That might have been fine if I had had only one suitcase, but of course I had much more than that. I tried going to the second rental company to see if I could rent the new car, transfer my staff, return the van, take the shuttle to the airport, and then the shuttle back to the new rental company. But I got lost and ended up in an employee parking area at the new rental company. There was a guy sitting in the car smoking near where I parked, so I went over to ask him my question of where I should park while I tried to do all of this.  he told me to go rent the new car, bring it right there and transfer the stuff, and that he would then drive the van to the other rental company to turn it in for me!  When I thanked him profusely, he said, "angels got to walk sometimes"!! 

2) After I had the new rental car I pulled into the cell phone lot to figure out where I was going. I texted my friend Alisyn, who I knew was going to the airport to pick someone up. When I mentioned to her that I was sitting in the cell phone lot trying to figure out where I was going, she said that she was sitting in the cell phone lot too! So then she drove over to where my car was, and I climbed in her car and we chatted for a while. Such a funny happy thing!

3) I went by a frozen custard place and ordered a pint of lemon frozen custard, because I wasn't really interested in today's flavor. After I paid for it the guy went to get it, but it turned out they were all out of lemon pints. So he gave me a lemon quart for the price of a pint!

(Apparently I was the only one who got good things today--Russ and the kids are having flight problems because of storms and at the very least are going to be late getting home.)

The Most Dangerous Game

Sometimes I'll reminisce about something my dad once said or did and my younger brothers or sisters will say "the dad I knew never did that."  It's one of the sad truths of our lives that going to Palmer changed him, changed the way he interacted and existed in our family forever.  I've gone over and over this in my mind--was it really the right thing for my parents to decide?  Were we so much at risk growing up in California in the 70's? (probably yes.)  Were the benefits (whatever they were) worth the loss?  Maybe one day we'll know.  What I do know is this--I may have grown up without money, but I'll never regret having experienced that part of Dad.

One of my favorite memories of Dad is of his telling the short story "The Most Dangerous Game."  Now Dad had committed to memory several epic poems in addition to this story, but as a child I wasn't interested in hearing the poetry (ok, the occasional telling of "The Highwayman" or "Sam McGee" was acceptable), I wanted to hear "The Most Dangerous Game" again.  He told it at least once a year--on ward campouts, maybe on family campouts, and whenever there was a reason for a story to be told.  He knew the story well and had embellished various details to make the story even more suspenseful and exciting.  I can still hear his voice in my head, calling out with a rising tone, "Rainsford?!?"  I can hear him describing the traps that Rainsford set to protect himself from General Zaroff, his hounds, and his servant.  And I can still hear the satisfied tone in his voice as he described the final scene in the story, not telling us what had happened but letting us figure it out from what he described.

I asked Dad if he could tell the story for the kids last summer, but he said that he no longer remembers it well enough.  I'm just glad that I was there when he did...