Farewell Party

Tonight was that party for us over at the church.  I'm still having a hard time believing it... all those people (dozens!) that came just because we're leaving.  (Of course Lynnette loved it; I try talking with people but it's just never natural.)  Wow.  Of course, people said nice things... they had to... all except Rex Marshall who was brutally honest... he's a funny man... but really, these genuinely good people spent their time there because of us.  But I guess the food didn't hurt.

Wow.

A Place of Silent, Intense Peace

Yesterday I went into a local Repartee Gallery to drop off a picture to get framed. The contrast was amazing: outside was a busy parking lot with talkative groups headed into the surrounding restaurants; inside was a refuge where art students were silently focused on their drawings. It startled me to find about 8 people in there, sitting in various positions around the room, so I stopped for a second at the threshold and some of them glanced up at me. Down to my left was someone sitting on the floor rather than in a chair; it was Nicole, my neighbor. We said "hi," and she pointed out her mother, another one of my long-time neighbors. They were all sitting quietly, each person doing a pencil drawing of a green pepper. The atmosphere was remarkable: it was a large room with fine art filling the walls, where a group of people all sat in silence, every one intensely focused on their creations.

It reminded me of a temple, one where every attendee was applying their full power of concentration, working independently but on much the same task. The word "reverent" even came to mind.

After respecfully breaking their silence and finishing my business, I walked out... but I paused outside the door, where there was a small fountain in the shape of a man cradling a huge fish in both hands and pouring water out its mouth. I savored that grand feeling of peace for another few seconds before continuing the rest of my chores.

Heart Attack!

Tonight someone doorbell ditched us; at first I thought it was Olivia coming home, but she never opened the door, so I checked and nobody was there. So then I thought it was young women (maybe with Olivia in the car) since they were out doing something together tonight... I saw a waiting car, and two kids finally ran over to it. So I went inside, turned off the porch lights, and then hurried outside and started running to catch the car. One person was still on the side of the road, and they then ran and jumped into the car and yelled, "He's coming! Go!" They took off, so I reached out and I almost touched the car as they sped away.

It was kind of funny to chase after them, but then I thought I may have spoiled their fun a bit. I went back inside and Lynnette asked, "Did they leave any hearts?" Duh. It's Valentine's this Sunday, so they would be doing a "heart attack," and sure enough there were some paper hearts taped to our door. Great. Lynnette made me feel extra bad: I may have scared the kids.



About 10 minutes later, I got a call from Andy, asking: was I mad at Ammon for doorbell ditching us? Ha! No way! I thought it was funny, and they got away from me just barely without me finding out who it was. He said they thought I was mad about it, and even Boone (their adult driver) thought I might have been upset, especially when I reached out to slap the car. I kept reiterating how I really thought it was funny and I thought they did a great job.

Great. I'm intimidating the neighborhood kids.

A bit later, someone came to the door and rang the bell; I went out thinking again it was Olivia but it was actually the boys who ditched us earlier. I am glad; it gave us all a chance to laugh about the whole thing.

It feels great that they'd value and trust us enough to give us a heart attack; it's doubly cool for them to come back later, just to check back in person and make sure everything's cool.

I Was Trusted To Help

It's not fun to be roused out of bed by the phone. And it's not fun to see someone you love hurting from pain and frustration. What is awe-inspiring is to be called at a late hour and be invited to see someone who needs aid... because that means that they think you are capable of providing at least some bit of help and comfort. It's touching, and more than a little humbling.

I hope I helped enough to honor their trust.

Dancing and Skating Together

Tonight we all went to the street dancing at Bountiful's Summerfest, where we have dancers from around the world perform and allow us to dance with them in the street. We saw some square dancing by people from Denver, some Russian dancing by Cossack youths, and some other group dancing by Greeks. Fun stuff!

What was awesome was that everyone enjoyed something: Lynnette enjoyed my dancing (maybe because I'm so adept at embarrassing myself); Olivia got to dance flamboyantly in the street with other people; Ellie and Tolman skated down some sloping streets on their Wave skateboards; and Thomas caught serious air because I'd pull him up by the arm as he jumped. I enjoyed it all!

What's particularly rewarding is that there was a lot of whining and anger before we left, but everyone has a much better attitude after just a few minutes at the event. Physical fun is good for the soul.