Room for More?

Dear Friend Chris is in love, again. This time with a precious little angel by the name of Averie Belle. She was born last Tuesday. Chris is Averie's Auntie. Chris is also Connor's Auntie.

Prior to Averie's birth, Chris was worried that she couldn't possibly love another baby as much as she loved and adored Connor. I told her not to worry. When babies come into your life, your heart expands to include more love for them, rather than having to make another space for them in the love you already have.

Here, I will give you some examples:

See? There is ALWAYS room for loving a new baby. Until, you find that you love "borrowing" babies more than actually having them yourself, but that is a discussion for a different day.

A Photo Tag

To give my soapbox and political leanings a break today, I am going to play along with a tag that I have seen now on at least Dear Friend Kellie's blog and Dear Friend Peggy's blog in the past little while.

The point is to dig into an old photo folder on your computer. You look at the fourth folder, and post the fourth file for all to see. Hmmmm....Let's see...My photo folders are a bit, well, oddly organized, but here is the offering for you Dear Readers:

Poor kid. Yep, that is me.

It is my first day in first grade at my first elementary school. My kindergarten picture, the year before, shows my long-to-the-waist length hair. Then the Olympics began and I desperately wanted a Dorothy Hamill haircut. Obviously, it was DESPERATE. Look at me!? But you gotta love the 70s.

I began scanning in old family photos, including those of me as a kid, for a yet unattempted family history project. But pictures are scanned, so I will eventually get to it. 'Eventual' being the operative word here.

Happy Friday, Friends! Have a great weekend.

That Was What I WAS Doing

Tuesday, our new President called for each of us to pitch in to "be the change" the country has been looking for. Starbuck's Coffee Houses jumped on this and has a new "I'm In" campaign where a customer will pledge to do 5 hours of service--of their choice--and they get a free coffee. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher produced a "Presidential Pledge" video with famous people pledging to do something more to improve the social climate in America. Oprah is happy to be a forum for this bandwagon too, of course.

I was pledging before pledging was cool, to borrow a country western phrase. And so were most all of you.

What is the deal? Didn't famous people see the need prior to the inauguration?! Didn't they feel the need to be helpful in their community before a new young leader called them out on it? Didn't they accept that the only change we will ever see is what we choose to take on in our own lives? Good crud, people! Where have these guys been?!

Maybe they didn't realize that public education has been on the verge of either failing or greatness, classroom by classroom, for years, and that the only way to tip the scales was to roll up your sleeves and get in there and help. I've been committed to that for nine years now. Many of you have been at it even longer. That commitment came from us when we had children, and our pledge was not just for our own children, but for all children.

Perhaps they haven't seen the need for cub scout leaders, girl or boy scout leaders, 4H leaders, Boys and Girls Clubs help, library volunteers, teachers at the community center, leaders in the YM or YW programs. Oh, that's probably because that might force them to accept some modicum of responsibility that might not be seen by the media and the cameras from Entertainment Tonight. Our commitment to our community began when we joined the community.

Now, I can't end 21st century slavery, like Demi and Ashton have proposed to do themselves. But I wish them luck in their efforts.

And I can't offer free coffee to everyone who chooses to join the legion of volunteers I work with week after week.

And I know that I cannot do everything I feel the need to do. Physically it is impossible. But I can do something, and I am doing something.

I'm headed to a council PTA meeting today, in fact. There I work with wonderful people--men and women--from about 10 schools in our community. We discuss solutions to various problems as they arise at these schools. We provide leadership and guidance for local volunteer leaders who at times feel they are in over their heads. We are a support to our teachers and principals who are in the trenches every day with our kids. I'm honored to work among them.

So, we can each do something, even small things. The trick is to just get over ourselves and our issues of the moment and just do it. Nike had it right, long ago. You don't need a bandwagon to jump on. The need has always been here, and compassion has always answered the call with a willing heart, not a coffee, or a paycheck, or media recognition, or a presidential mandate.

My Favorite Inaugural Memories

I watched the inauguration, like many of you, on TV. I was with Dear Friend Tammy yesterday as it all unfolded and we watched the oaths taken, the speeches given, and the songs performed. But my favorite moments weren't introduced by the Senator from California. My favorites had nothing to do with partisanship or politics. My favorites were less obvious to everyone sitting on the mall watching the ceremony in person.

I did enjoy the quartet that played, and I loved the Amish hymn they played "Tis a Gift to be Simple" and I smiled when I saw Aretha Franklin's hat--oh, my they will talking about that for a while to come--and I enjoyed the nerves that the Chief Justice had as he administered his first Presidential Oath of office. But those were not my favorite memories of this historic day.

The first memory I will keep from this event was the open letter Mr. Obama wrote to his girls that was published in Parade Magazine, included in many major newspapers nationwide on Sunday. He spoke of them being the reason he ran for president; he thanked them for their cooperation and patience as they campaigned; he wrote of the love he has for them and the joy they bring him in his daily life. His name was on the byline, so I am guessing (and hoping) that he wrote this himself and the feelings he expressed were his own. It was a touching moment to peek inside a public man to his private devotion to family. Made me proud to be a parent.

The next memory I treasure are scenes recorded by cameras just following the inauguration ceremony itself. The former President and former First Lady escorted by the new President and the new First Lady to a helicopter to return them to Andrews Air Force base where Mr. and Mrs. Bush would head home to Texas. The two couples laughed, spoke to one another and then embraced and kissed each other good bye. It was a completely amicable and even rather cordial. There looked to be true warmth and friendship between all four of them. I love the fact that this transition of power is done every four or eight years without bloodshed, without a coup, without a reign of terror. Seeing that kind of warmth and kindness between two otherwise opposing forces in politics made me proud to be an American. Again.

And finally, the dearest remembrance of this week will be the letter Jenna and twin sister Barbara Bush wrote to the Obama girls. It was published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal. The Bush sisters wrote with a kind of "big sisterliness" to Malia and Sasha, telling the little girls what a wonderful adventure was awaiting them. They gave the girls advice about having and keeping friends that you trust and enjoying your pets and making use of the banisters in sliding down into the solarium, and even which of the White House ushers the girls should specifically got to for fun, for hugs, for smiles. The Bush daughters know exactly what the little Obama girls will face. They were seven when their grandpa was made the 41st president. They were able to visit the White House as granddaughters long before they lived there are First Daughters.

This club of White House children is very exclusive, and only a member of that club could ever help a new member understand what is really ahead. Only a member of that club would understand that as a child of a powerful leader, you didn't really have a choice in the family business. Only a member of this club would mention "Many people will think they know him (your dad), but they have no idea how he felt the day you were born, the pride he felt on your first day of school, or how much you both love being his daughters. So here is our most important piece of advice: remember who your dad really is."

The Bush girls' letter is filled with kindness and love and understanding, and that makes me appreciate what good people they must be growing up to be even more. The Obama girls have good allies in the White House Children's Club. That made me proud to be a sister, to relations and to friends.

It feels good to live in a country with this kind of tradition. It feels good to see change and hope of the face of people around the country. And it feels good to know we can pray for our new leader, and leaders worldwide, that Heavenly Father might influence them for the better, for the greater good for all. It makes me proud to be an American. Always.

How Do YOU Spell Relief?

I spent the afternoon puking my guts out. Not exactly what I had in mind when the day began. We had tickets to the Draper Temple Open house at 10 so we spent the pre-lunchtime morning at that.

Perhaps bus exhaust or many people squeezing through a building's hallways plus an extra Excedrin for a migraine on an nearly empty stomach may have also had something to do with it.

Regardless, I didn't feel well for the reminder of the afternoon. I did fine while I was horizontal, but not vertical. So I spent a few hours on the bathroom floor waiting to finally retch it up.

Here is my question though: When you feel like that, do you wish for relief by just barfing and getting that over with, knowing that you will certainly feel better without whatever it is making you feel nauseous? Or do you wish that that whole feeling will just subside and go away never to bother you with the reminder that you have innards at all?

For me, I usually wait for the puking. Then I know it is done and I can begin to feel better. The bummer of that, at least this time, was the missing desire to eat or drink anything else, in the off chance that I might not be done yet. Empty stomach, post-hurling, is nearly as bad as just prior to hurling.

Well, that is certainly too much information, to be sure. But I had this thought running in my head most of the afternoon while I also realized I had missed a few spots of paint under my bathroom cabinet, the floors need to be swept and mopped, and how grateful I am to have a flushing toilet in my master suite.

Vicious Cycles

I suspect that I would be happier about a day off of school for the kids today if it were warm and sunny and I felt like doing something. Instead it is again, foggy, smoggy and very very cold. Even the fog is icy. But I still have laundry to do.

In fact, I just tried to go put natural gas in the little Honda this morning and it is too cold to get more than half a tank. Dang it. So, it is about a week into a yucky inversion and the air quality is in the red zone (so, bad) and my little mini-emissions car can't be completely filled because it is too cold because of the inversion. Vicious cycle!

I went to bed at my regular time last night, about 10 PM after a long day of church stuff. It was all good, however, so I am happy to do it. I learn a lot when I go in with a positive attitude. Anyway, I am not sure what happened, but by about 11:30 Genius Golfer came into bed after some racket in the hallway outside our door. Then for the next, oh, I don't know, hour or so, there was quite a spirt of highly dramatic crying and wailing and probably gnashing of teeth (though I couldn't hear that) from The Girl's room. Let's hope this is only PMS and we can move on to regular behavior next week.

This morning when I got up, The boy's bedroom door was pulled all the way closed, so the melodrama next door must have bothered him too.

The school holiday is certainly a good idea, but these people still need some semblance of normalcy and with that, sleep! When I tell them to go to bed, they respond with "There is no school" but I want to remind them "Yes, but I will pay for your orneriness all day tomorrow, thankyouverymuch!" It is a school holiday cycle: want to play, stays up late, ornery, mom is annoyed at your orneriness!

I am hoping there will be lots of CHANGE ushered in tomorrow. We'll just have to wait and see. I guess, worst case scenario, change will only bring trouble with unintended consequences which will drive us all to want a different change and then the whole thing starts over again. Plus there is that little inauguration too. Vicious cycles.

Truth Universally Acknowledged

I love Jane Austen. As I scrap booked this past week I had a marathon with her as I watched "Sense and Sensibility", "Persuasion", and "Miss Austen Regrets" (followed yesterday by Elizabeth Glaskell's "Cranford" which is easily an Austen cousin in my mind).

So as a brief posting today, I would like to share just a handful of quotes by our venerable and witty literary friend. Enjoy!

The greatest opening line ever: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be want of a wife."--Pride and Prejudice

"If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it." --Persuasion

"It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire." --Northanger Abbey

"There are people who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves." --Emma

"People always live forever when there is an annuity to be paid them." --Sense and Sensibility

"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of." --Mansfield Park

And from the good lady herself, "I do not what people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."

She was simply brilliant. Her writing is still brilliant and more and more apropos than ever. No wonder so many of us are under her literary spell. "I am excessively diverted."