It is Justin’s 26th birthday today. Hard to believe that 26 years has passed since we welcomed our first grand baby. Oh how Tom loved all those babies. He loved ALL of them at EVERY AGE but there was something about Tom and babies. At that age he could run away with them and just talk to them and hold them. They were all his at that age and they were just fresh from Heaven. Many men are afraid of tiny babies but not my father, not my husband and not my son. They love them. Tom loved them.
The way I deal with distress, confusion or anything abnormal in my life is to clean and bring order to things, so when my landscape fellows turned up on Monday and worked to complete the yard that afternoon and the next morning, it made me feel good. I feel good when there is order and beauty and the yard looks beautiful. I told Ryan of Showcase Landscaping that I might need to enter the yard in the garden tour, it is that pretty. I love it, particularly the little bent tree he planted in the front. I think we all feel a little bent and broken and I think there is beauty in imperfection and pain.
I heard from several friends this week as people are noting or feeling I must be on my own now. Sandy Beck called, Theresa, Carolyn and Rizza. Donna and Frank came with a cute arrangement of flowers and we had a nice visit. Cindy, Wendy McKinley and I went for lunch at the Little White House in Fort Langley and I visited the grave and took sunflowers. Jean and Cheyenne took me out for sushi dinner and Cheyenne insisted on paying because she is making money now. I took her flowers later in the week for receiving such good marks. Jean and Cheyenne drove me to church on Sunday so I wouldn’t have to go alone. I am still receiving the odd card or kind message. I have been overwhelmed by love and support thru all of this time. The children keep in touch and the Hardy’s have been over several times. On Friday they all came to have Tricia cut their hair after she cut mine. David Bigler came over to repair our old washing machine on Thursday morning and it is ready to give to someone in need of a washer and drier. I have been pretty busy and I appreciate everyone.
I usually go to the Temple to do a session on Tuesday mornings and now I am back serving on the Saturday afternoon shift too. This last Saturday they approached me to take the living endowment sister as Barbara Brainard, who was to assist the sister, couldn’t get across the border. The new patron was a lovely woman, Cindy’s age, from Surrey. She had been a widow for about 13 years and her deceased husband was having his work done as she was completing her’s. As we neared the end, I looked down at her card and noted she had been born on our fourth wedding anniversary. I told her and told her Tom had just passed away and we decided we were meant to be together that day. Later I thought, “Perhaps Tom was assisting her husband on the other side of the veil as they both received their endowments and were sealed to each other”. I hope that was the case. This Tuesday, as I sat in the Temple chapel waiting for the session, I was missing Tom and wishing he would come thru the door, sit down by me and take my hand. Suddenly Lois Rennie came thru the door, rushed to hug me and sat down beside me and took my hand. The Lord is always aware.
I remember years ago reading or hearing about Rose Kennedy. She was a woman who had experienced numerous tragedies, set backs and sorrows in her life. When she was asked how she dealt with it, she replied “I walk”. She was a quiet woman in the midst of a famous family and constant turmoil. She held onto her faith, belief in God and she walked. I never forgot her response and have taken it to heart on several occasions and “I walk” for exercise and to deal with stress, sorrows and pain.
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