Drained

My physical energies are gone
As I battle my grandson’s head cold
Easily given to me as we interacted
During our last visit at Eastertime
How much for granted we take
Our physical health till it’s gone
If only briefly, leaving us depleted,
Drained, down and definitely out

Unfortunately, my head cold
Came at exactly the wrong time
When our long awaited guests
From Sweden were visiting us
It was difficult to be a cheery hostess
When you can’t breathe through your nose
And your head is aching and your hands
Full of tissues to stop the dripping nose

But I did my part and I passed on
The nasty cold virus to those about me
So now they can be sympathetic
As they battle the same symptoms I had
I am getting to feel better each day
Too bad germs have to be so friendly
And can’t be scheduled for more convenient
Times to pay an unexpected visit..achoo!

My Swedish Friend

Here is my best friend Gittan from Sweden who I only get to see every few years but we have been friends about 28 years. We met as pen pals then in person in Sweden and felt like we have know each other forever. That has happened for me with several friends throughout the years. Kind of a de-ja-vu experience, like we knew each other before and were just continuing our friendship. Today in the age of computers we can email and talk on skype instantaneously while in the past I would mail a letter by snail mail and 10 days later, she would get it. Then she would write back and 10 days later, I would get her answer. Our news was very old but at least it kept us connected in the good old days. BFF! Best friends forever!

My Grand daughter's blogs

My family has twins and me and Emilee are those twins and me and Emilee are in the same class! We are so happy that were twins, because people get mixed up with me and Emilee. They love being are friends. They like playing with us. I love my sister, to Emilee the bestest sister in the world.    

Love, Heather

☺ there was a family they were the Hatches they were happy to be with each other. They do math like this ☹ = ☺ they were happy to be with each other. Emilee

                                                        (photo: l-r Heather and Emilee)

                             Together as family for Easter...

Saying Goodbye

(This poem is dedicated to another aunt, Lucille, who died last Monday and to her husband Weston, my only uncle who remains. See her complete obituary at Deseret News.)

Saying goodbye isn’t forever
Just a brief separation for now
A still lifeless form once so active
Witnesses your spirit’s absence

Released to go home
No words come from your lips
The time for talking is over
For our daily little interactions

Though I feel you nearby
Our love continues to grow
During this necessary separation
Someday I will join with you

But for now, your memory lingers
Our love is stronger than ever
How wonderful that this isn’t
Goodbye forever, but only for now

New furniture!

Well, here I am sitting in our living room with our two new loveseats. This is quite a monumental day, the last time I bought living room furniture was in 1975 when I moved to Utah as a single parent newly divorced with no furniture. My home teacher sold me their old furniture and I've had that set for 33 years. Recovering the cushions and replacing the foam in the cushions once, so it's a real treat to finally buy some new living room furniture for our retirement home.

Money, money, money

Money is an interesting commodity
It separates people into different classes
Those who have and those who don’t

It motivates much of the social ills
In our society: robberies, scams, crime
Drugs, wars, prostitution and more

Yet it is necessary for daily survival
Food, shelter, warmth, transportation
Education, health care and clothing

I think I would like a barter system
Where we all helped each other
And traded services in a community

Tell me how you feel about money
Is it okay to spend what you don’t have
To get in debt or should you save it all

Be selfish and hoard all that you have
How much should you help others
Does God deserve your contribution?

Money can represent security, power
Pride, greed or charity, benevolence
It should not motivate who we are

And the Winner is...

      Unfortunately in most contests just one person can win the 1st prize. I just entered a writer's contest with the Heritage Writer's Group that I joined last year here in St. George. I submitted several poems and one non-fiction essay but I didn't win any prizes, certificates or trophies. I did, however, get some valuable feedback on how to improve my writing so that maybe one day I will win a prize or at least improve my writing enough to get it published. My focus now is on writing some short articles to get published in some local magazines or newspapers about what I've learned from my life's experiences. It's a series of essays called "Reflections on Life in Utah." Stay tuned for further information.

Hats Off!

Just spent a busy weekend visiting with Jeff and Rachel. Here's a photo of the newly engaged couple in our back yard. They both work nights, Jeff at UPS and Rachel as a neonatal nurse. So their sleep schedules will be somewhat compatible as they marry and set up a household together. It really made me aware having them around how important sleep is for all of us to function, and how difficult to try to switch from being awake at night to being awake during the day. There are many who do this to keep our society functioning, but I think it can take a toll on our health and functioning. I know when I can't sleep just one night and am up for a few hours when I should be sleeping that I drag the next day. So my hat's off to those we take for granted who serve us: policemen, hospital workers, mail and package handlers, truck drivers who deliver goods, and others who keep our society running smoothly working through the nights and sleeping during the days.

Temple in Spring

Visitors in St. George

Jeff and Rachel are here to visit us and see the sights of St. George. We went to pizza and then to see the St. George temple grounds which are all abloom and beautiful to see especially at sunset. They are officially engaged now and will be married next month in the Las Vegas temple. We are so happy to be adding Rachel to our family as a new daughter-in-law. Welcome to the family!

Who is “Me”?

My inner voice, unlike any other
Unique to my life's experiences
My personality, my inner self
Amazing how no two individuals
Are the same, even twins
Something precedes our birth
The spiritual essence of “me”
The authentic “me,” no facades

Life seems to teach us to hide the real “me”
In favor of the acceptable “me” or polite “me”
The always postive, smiling or agreeable “me”
But what if I feel differently inside than
Others expect to see on the outside “me”
I want someone to know the real “me”
And accept my uniqueness, the qualities
I have that are different from all others
Maybe that’s what falling in love is about
Feeling that at last someone sees the real “me”
And likes “me” enough to risk loving “me”
And living day to day with my idiosyncrasies


What a joy to find that in someone
Maybe that’s the strength of families
Unconditional acceptance, it’s available
With God, whose love has healing powers
Beyond any found in our immediate world,
I want to be able to give that to others
To my immediate family, my dear friends,
Extended family and students that I teach
We are here to love and grow together
To discover our uniqueness, the real "me"

It's Here!

Ready or not Southern Utah

Spring is bursting out all over

Daffodils are in full bloom

Signaling warmer days

Tulips will soon follow

Fruit trees are dressed in pink

Warmth is in the air

Promises of summer abound

There are hot days ahead

But first let's enjoy Spring

Its newness, its promise

Of beginning over again

Write a Poem or Free Verse

Using the word "balloons" as your focus, make a free association list of words that come into your mind then when an idea to write comes, quickly write down your thoughts, then share them as a comment. Don't judge or rework your poem, let it be spontaneous and free. Have fun. Thanks for risking and sharing with all of us.

Balloons

A fun birthday balloon bouquet
Multi-colored bulbs against the gray sky
Slips easily from our light-hearted grasp
Rising ever higher till it disappears
Momentary happiness and glee changes
To disappointment, where has it gone?

Childhood days and memories rush by
Times of family frolicking are remembered
Images frozen in time in an old scrapbook
Photos with smiles and loved ones now gone
Close yet far away, unseen or noticed by us
Do they watch over us remembering and smile?

Time change again!

This morning, I woke up late because
Daylight savings time is here early
Oh no, it’s another lost hour this month
But actually it’s the hour we gained last fall
When the government decreed in the news
That daylight savings time would last longer
Now the decree is…it will start earlier
In mid-March…before winter is over

So for all the cows in dairies across America
Who just got used to their milking schedules,
And all the families who have settled into a
Comfortable routine for work, school and home,
It’s time to change your internal time clock
Now when you wake up at 7 am it will be 8 am
And you’ll be late for work, and when you retire
At night early at 9 pm, it will already be 10 pm

All in the name of saving more energy
To use later in the day comes this disruption
To our lives, I bet caveman didn’t do this,
He just checked the sun in the sky to see
What time it was, if he was hungry-he ate
Tired-he slept or because it was dark
Life must have been much simpler then
Before clocks and daylight savings time

Parenting or Love 101

Romantic love, platonic love, family love, unconditional love…love makes the world go round and makes it worthwhile living. Our parents lead the way showering us with love before we are even born then raising and teaching us in love, hopefully showing us an example of love that never wavers. Parents who are always there for us through our disappointments, mistakes, failures and even sometimes disobedient teenage years. Parents who we really take for granted until we become a parent and realize all the labor, patience and dedication required 24/7 to care for just one little baby.

Then add some siblings and it becomes more complicated as there are more relationships within the family to develop. Jealousies, disagreements and misunderstandings will arise from time to time. Parents take upon themselves the role of disciplinarian and judge at times but always with unconditional love. Probably the most challenging time as a parent is during the teen years when your child suddenly has a mind of their own and no longer looks to you as the all knowing one with answers but challenges and questions your beliefs, actions and attempts to discipline them. What happens when your child rebels against all that you stand for? That’s the real test of parenting giving the whole process time and continuing to express unconditional love and a listening ear.

Too soon the empty nest years are here and all the tremendous time and effort to teach your child to be an adult are now tested as they go out on their own to work, go to college, get married or other activities. Hopefully the parent hasn’t given all their life’s energies to developing a child into an adult but has taken time along the way to develop their own interests, hobbies, talents and friends so the empty nest years are more enjoyable.

Then come the grandchildren as your children repeat all the lessons you had to learn as a parent about love and patience. How to get the baby back to sleep when they wake up, how to be calm as you are entering the emergency room for the second time in the same month with a crying child to have stitches again, and other necessary duties like cleaning up innumerable messes, washing load after load of clothes, cooking meal after meal, attending practices, games, school conferences, plays, etc. etc. etc. But it's all worth it and part of the life course called Parenting or Love 101.

Personality QUIZ

What kind of yarn are you? My blogging mentor Susi Q had this on her blog. She was "mohair", I thought I'd probably be "hemp" or worse. I came up after taking the quiz as "dishcloth cotton", not too far off. Guess that's my practical side. I don't altogether agree but try the quiz yourself. It's fun and free, don't even have to register, just answer about 6 questions then laugh!

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!



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Ah...New Love

It’s Spring almost, the time when new love develops

As blossoms swell and prepare to open into new warmth

So too, couples seem to match up and discover new love

Ever fresh, every exhilarating, that moment when your date

Suddenly takes on a new glow and transforms into your ideal

They have no faults but only seem to be created to love you

No blinders needed, love and its attendant emotions do that

Until after the marriage ceremony and honeymoon are over then

And only then does reality return and we see more clearly

This somewhat normal person who is now our new mate

They do have some faults that were not so easily discerned

During the infatuating wonderful days of dating and courtship

It’s great that the intensity of our emotions blinds us both

To faults and idiosyncrasies that will have to be worked on

To change our perfect companion into an acceptable spouse

Ah love, even true love, never runs smooth but is blind

At first, thank goodness or we would have less marriages

And fewer fiftieth wedding anniversaries to celebrate

Lots of happiness to all you newly engaged couples everywhere!

Opinions

Will the real authentic me stand up?
Why? So I can be put down?
No way, I’ll just continue to be invisible
Unnoticed in the corner, hiding
It’s safer than way…or is it?


If I don’t say or write something
I have no voice, my opinions aren’t heard
But what if no one cares to hear my thoughts?
They still exist and if I express them
Someone…somewhere will listen, if only me

Talents or Hobbies

Something about the word "talent" makes most of us feel uneasy. We are okay in saying I love to write poems or paint or take photos but to claim that as one of our talents is difficult. Maybe there's a responsibility there to face up to. If we say we have a talent in music then there seems to me to be an attendant responsibility to do something with that talent...develop it, teach or share it.

I feel that everyone has a talent and earth life is where we are to develop these talents. i don't think that talents are just in the arts. Many have a talent of making friends or comforting those who grieve or being optimistic. I have tried lots of hobbies (see the photo above) to see if something clicked for me as a talent I might have. My list includes weaving, pottery, cooking, stained glass, and bead weaving but though enjoyable none of those clicked for me. I do love to teach, do genealogy, write and take photos. What is one of your talents that you haven't developed or discovered yet?

Eliza R Snow

Just got asked by our RS president to take the part of Eliza R. Snow in a commemorative program about Relief Society. Eliza R Snow is one of important figures in early LDS history. I pictured her as a short pioneer woman  but then found this about her on-line: 

BIOGRAPHY: Eliza was slightly above medium height, of slender build, her bearing graceful and refined. She had a noble countenance, the forehead unusually high and the features exquisitely cut. The most striking feature of all were her wonderful eyes, deep, penetrating, full of meaning and often illuminated with poetic fire. In speech and action she was thoughtful and deliberate.

One Great Family

Introducing Rachel who will marry my youngest son Jeff in April. Welcome to our family as you and Jeff create your own family!

It begins with a linking of generations

United as earthly family: grandparents,

Parents and in-laws, brothers and sisters,

Aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandchildren 

A new bride and groom begin anew

Their own family branch intermingling

Roots of two distinct different families

Developing their own unique leaves

Which will in turn become branches

One great earthly family intertwined, 

Conceived in love, bound by covenants

Made in holy temples, guided by God above

Standing strong throughout all eternity

March is here!

Springs slips into view
welcome warmth brings
new energies for
nearly everything
Dirty windows are washed
patio furniture sprayed clean
gardens turned over
as green shoots sprout

I too want to grow and stretch

become more than I am

serendipity calls and

I answer willingly

It seems that anything is possible

where was this feeling in winter

hybernation is over

out into the warm air

But deep inside I know that winter

is not over, it will return if only

momentarily to stunt my

new unlimited ambitions