(written on the 29th from notes taken previously)
As I usually do, when I spend the night at that particular Maverick, I left the station relatively early in the morning to head over to the nearby Walmart parking lot to finish my night’s sleep.
It was a wet morning, but I got a little bit more sleep, and then I got a hit on the driver’s seat that I had posted, somebody over in Eagle Mountain wanting to come pick it up, so I arranged to meet him at Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove and headed that way.
I mostly stuck around in my van, given the weather, but I took the time to fill up my water bottles at the water fill fountain by the, dispose of some of my trash, pick up some trash that was on the ground, and… take on the mess in the bathroom. 😅
To set the stage, picture a regular rectangle bathroom building in a quad baseball field Park. You open the door to the bathroom, and the sink is immediately on your right followed by the urinal, and the regular toilet stall is on the left, but the privacy divider is only like 5 ft tall. 😆
Then the toilet is made 100% out of stainless steel, with no lid, and the toilet bowl is stuffed with poo and way too much toilet paper.
I flushed it once, hoping that maybe after sitting for however long it had been sitting, it might decide to suck some of the crap down, but no dice. It just filled up a little more. So I tried it again, and the same results and then again and the same result. I don’t remember if it was three or four or five flushes before the water was threatening to overflow without any noticeable progress in undesirables going down the drain.
I needed a stick.
So I wandered around outside for a little bit and managed to find a suitable stick, popped back over to the nearly overflowing toilet, shoved the stick into the soupy mess toward the hole, gouged the hole a few times, and bada bing bada boom, the undesirables made the decision to seek treatment.
…
😁
The gentleman was late arriving to pick up the seat, but was a super nice guy who was involved in the business trying to compete with Amazon deliveries in one way or another. Not exactly sure how that works, he but had one of the Vans they had bought was a Ford van that had come with a Chevrolet front seat. 😶
So I had exacted what he needed.
Oh, and remember that little addendum that I put at the end of the ad for the free seat, saying that donations of food or stuff or money we’re welcome?
He Venmoed me 25 bucks for food. 🙃
🙏
I hadn’t gotten myself a bath before church, so the best I could really do was put on fresh deodorant and wipe my neck down with a towel to reduce white shirt neck dirt. 🙃
I went over to the church that’s just north of Discovery Park, expecting them to have a sacrament service starting at 1:00, but nope. It started at noon. 😅
Thankfully, since it’s Utah, I only had to drive 11 ft down the road to get to the next church building, where I asked a young man who was walking into the building if their sacrament meeting was about to start, and he said yes. 🎉
The chapel was rather crowded, with the overflow not available, so at first I thought maybe I would just sit out in the foyer, but then I decided to ask a gentleman sitting on the little tiny rear most row on the passenger side of the chapel if I could duck in, and be got up to let me through.
But then… something was weird. Generally, you see mostly teenagers blessing and passing the sacrament, but when I looked up at the sacrament table, the two people standing behind it were grown men, maybe 30s?
I also noticed that those who were sitting in preparation to pass the sacrament were likewise older.
My first thought was, oh, it’s probably one of those days where they invite the adults to have a turn, but as I looked around the congregation… there weren’t any kids.
Was this a singles Ward?
A pretty significant chunk of those in attendance looked far older than the cutoff of 31 years old, so maybe this was the 31 to 45 group? Except… there were at least a handful that looked far younger than 31.
🤔
🤷
I had no idea.
The second speaker touched me pretty deeply. Unfortunately, one of the women in the congregation reminded me of somebody I knew, and I went to look up The Facebook profile of the person I knew, but darn Facebook defaults their feed to autoplay videos with sound on, so before I could manage to get my panicked bearings figured out enough to turn off the sound, very loudly in a very quiet chapel something to the effect of “Is it actually true that men and women are equal?” cut through the quiet reverence.
😳
🤦
😆
Oh well.
The gentleman next to me had something similar happened when you plugged the address of award activity into his phone and accidentally pressed the navigation button, so his phone started barking out driving instructions. 😆
Apparently, we there on the last row were the misfit row. 😆
And what I learned next solidified that.
After the prayer and announcements were all done, I asked the gentleman next to me which age group of singles ward this was, and he said 26 to 35.
Oh.
Well I guess that makes perfect sense, and I at age 44 definitely didn’t belong. 😆
Despite the fact that I didn’t belong there, I decided to stay for elders quorum, which happened to be debuting a new strategy–J-Dawg study groups. 😆
And today was get to know you day, so there wasn’t even a lesson. We ate our J Dawgs while sitting at round tables and just got to know each other. Which felt kind of weird because I was a one-time passer through who didn’t even belong there. 😆
After eating my j dog, I almost left, but I felt like that would be a pretty crappy thing to do to eat and run. 😆
So I went back and kicked it with the younger folk, definitely out of my element, as they all started talking about video games, and the last time I actually put in an effort playing video games was in the days of the Sega Genesis.
Been a little while. 🙃
After church, I headed back to Discovery Park. I had briefly chatted with my sister Rebecca right before going into church, and I sent her a picture of the outline I had drawn on my leg, as well as the summary of my lumbar spine MRI from the fall of 2024.
When I called her back, we chatted about my nerve issues, about life on her end, etc. she’s in the health industry as well and felt like my nerve issues were probably the result of issues with my L5/S1 joint.
Did I mention I made an appointment for May 14th to see the physician’s assistant of my neurologist in Bentonville, Arkansas?
If I didn’t, I have now. 🙃
I think I chatted with my sister Rebecca for nigh on to two hours or so, before bidding her farewell and heading over to my brother Jared’s place for a big family get together, including three of his adult children, their special someone’s, friends, and all of his new children by marriage.
It was definitely good times. I chatted with my older nieces and nephews, had balloon battles with my younger nieces, and we enjoyed each other’s company once dinner started, chatting mostly about different movies. One of my nephews is a self-proclaimed cinephile, and I had fun suggesting some more interesting shows.
After dinner, I had the absolute highlight of my entire day. As I was walking past the sort of library/guest bedroom, the two oldest nieces at the get together we’re sitting on the bed talking, and I joined in the conversation.
For the next probably 3ish hours? I sat, mostly listening–as if one of the girls 🙃–the older of the two recapping a very important part of the last several months of her life.
As I listened to her, the way she talked, the way she thought, I found myself feeling and telling her how wonderful it was to see the woman she’s become (though perhaps not exactly in those words). 🤍
At the same time, I watched the face of the younger of the two, as she lay on the bed listening to and watching my older niece relate her tale, and I was just… mesmerized by what I saw in her.
She. Absolutely. Glowed.
But no… no… that isn’t right… Glow is too weak.
She shone. Brightly. Brilliantly.
If ever I’ve seen the radiating light of perfect love in a mortal being, it is in her face that I have seen it.
Wow. Simply… wow.
So powerful was the experience for me that I actually paused my older niece in the middle of her story, because I wanted the younger one to know, right then and there, exactly what I saw in her.
I really hope sharing that with her was meaningful to her. 🙏 I think it was.
What an incredible young woman.
The three of us continued our conversations, my older niece concluding her story, and then the three of us enjoying a super-uplifting gospel conversation, focusing pretty significantly on how deeply and perfectly God loves us. 🥰
It reminded me so much of the kinds of conversations I had many years ago with other youth, one in particular, where I was able to lift and encourage and share the light and love of God. 🥰
There’s nothing more beautiful to me than those opportunities, and being on the receiving end both of the brilliant radiance emanating from my niece and the light of God’s love filling my own heart, tonight was an incredible night. 🥰
I miss these opportunities. They mean the world to me.
I also noticed how much I miss having the Spirit with me like I used to. I certainly felt it tonight, but I could tell speaking by the Spirit was more difficult. I’m out of practice, spending so much time inwardly focused on my own pains and struggles.
I’m gonna get back to where I was, and then I’m gonna keep going, however long and hard the road.
Even if I crash and burn a thousand times.
Bring it on.
My younger niece gave me a big hug (hugs all around, actually, I think), and I finally bid both of them goodnight (about 11:45 p.m. 😅)–driving all the way up to my happy little Slide Canyon parking spot for the night.
Loved today. 🥰
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 