(written on the 29th from notes taken previously)
Today was visiting day. 😊
I slept in a fair bit, not leaving my little parking lot until after 11:00. As I drove away, I recognized that I wasn’t going to be returning to that spot again on this trip, as it’s almost time to leave.
I didn’t drive very far down the canyon before stopping–swinging by Canyon View Park for a couple of hours to work on my journal catch-up efforts.
Not quite perpetually behind, but close. 😅
I arranged to stop by my friend Lauri’s place. She and I used to teach for the same school, and we became fast friends then and have remained friends since, though it’s been many years since I last saw her.
Before stopping by her place, I swung by the Pleasant Grove Wal-mart Supercenter to top up my grocery supply, where, just as I was finishing up my shopping and heading toward the checkouts, I walked past an elderly lady who had just had her can of some sort of lacquer maybe? fall from her cart onto the ground.
The can had popped completely open, sending lacquer all over the floor, all over her shoes, and all over her brand new compression sock.
If I had to guess, she was probably in her 80s and was something like 6 weeks removed from having a hip replacement. The friend that she had with her was also elderly, although I think maybe a handful of years younger.
(sorry to say that 80s are elderly, mama 🙃)
I figured I’d see what I could do to help, so I put my basket of stuff on the ground next to her cart and got her shoes off (more partially open, strapped sandal slipper things, actually).
Getting her compression sock off was a heck of a lot harder, I think because she’d been walking around the store, and her leg was quite swollen.
Eventually, with her teaching me how to remove it, and doing her best to help, I was able to get it off.
I wandered over to the bathroom to see if I could wash the lacquer off her footwear and compression sock, but there was absolutely no way. It would need a pretty hefty solvent to get it off, and that would likely ruin the clothing.
The lady took the bad news quite well, jokingly saying something like “well, I’ve only had those shoes for 20 years.” 🙃
I went over and grabbed a grocery bag and put her compression sock and footwear in as an employee had come over to start trying to get everything cleaned up.
I also went over to the entrance of this door, unplugged one of the electric carts, and drove it back over to her, pulling up beside her, so she could just pivot and sit down.
Sadly, there wasn’t really much more that I could do, so I wished them well and checked out.
From there it was on to Lauri’s place, which I wasn’t sure about the first time. With so much time having passed, I forgot which house number was hers in the little 55+ neighborhood. Her car was parked in her driveway, which I recognized as I think the same car that she used to drive way back 17 years ago when we taught together! Wow!
I ended up parking at the visitor parking way back at the beginning of the neighborhood and then walking to her place, one of her sons answering the door.
I ended up hanging out with her and her son for a good long time, catching up on each other’s lives. She’s still teaching, though of course she left the school not too long after I did.
Both of my favorite coworkers left shortly after I was fired (within two or three years, I think? Not 100% sure. The school just… wasn’t the same, and so they decided to go elsewhere.
Sad. 😞
That school, and more specifically, my students, were my whole world. I loved them so much.
It’s crazy, there’s a part of me that could walk back in those doors, walk into my classroom, watch all my students trickle in, and it would feel completely normal, as if no time had passed at all.
Oh, how I would love that.
I cherished those days.
It hurts my heart how it all ended up. I think most of my students, after I left, heard rumors and gossip that pretty much destroyed their image of me.
Painful. 😞
Especially since I loved them so much.
As much as it all feels so recent that it could be yesterday (so powerful are the memories and feelings that have persisted), at the same time, it’s been almost 17 years, and it could also slip away like a dream.
I was sad to hear from my friend how far the school has fallen from the ideals of its mission statement, so far that some of the strongest families now drive their kids from Utah County all the way up to downtown Salt Lake City to attend the Salt Lake campus, as the principal there (who used to be one of the vice principals at the big campus when I was there, before they even had a second campus) has worked extremely hard to maintain the true mission of the school.
That part makes me happy, at least. 🎉
Hearing what’s happened, it seems to give additional weight to the possibility that the book that Heavenly Father asked me to write many many years ago, the book I’ve procrastinated monumentally 😅, but that remains on my to-do list, is still both relevant and important.
I’m starting to feel increased motivation and drive to get working on it again, so let’s hope I can nurture that desire, overcome the fear, and finally get the book written and done. 🤞
We also ended up talking a little bit about my own life, and my struggles with trusting in the existence of God. I gave her a fair amount of the general details of the backstory that’s led me to where I am today but without any of the specifics.
Lauri is a wonderful human. 🤍
It was so easy to become fast friends with our passion for teaching and extremely similar perspectives on best practices.
Gosh, I miss that incredible opportunity I had there.
I knew when I left that despite my brief time there, and despite the manner of my departure, I had accomplished what I went there to accomplish.
And there was comfort in that.
I don’t remember at what point in the conversation it came up, but in talking about my travels through New Zealand, I came to find that Lauri’s son was a Lord of the Rings aficionado, and I offered to give him one of the little pebbles that had found its way into my shoes on my way down the slopes (after destroying the ring, of course).
Lauri, hearing that I had a little container with multiple pebbles in it, said that her little students would be super excited if she brought a genuine Mount Doom Pebble to school, so I walked back to my van, grabbed the little container that has my Mountain Doom pebbles in it, walked back, and let them each select one of the little pebbles.
I had six, and now I’m down to four. 🙃
I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back to get more, but that’s okay. Sharing meaningful things is much better than hoarding them.
I bid them both farewell and drove on over to the Timpanogos Temple parking lot to just take the view in for a moment before heading back to my brother’s place in Highland.
Jared wasn’t home yet when I got to his place, but Cortney was there making an incredible dinner 😋, and I hung out with her and my new niece and nephew until Jared came back with my other two new nieces.
I asked my oldest new niece (whose face still just radiates light) to play one of her favorite songs on the piano (she had just come back from a piano lesson), and to her credit, she laid hold upon her courage, and played a song she hadn’t in a while, having to fight through a bit because of rust, but facing the challenge and finishing.
I aspire to be like her. 🙃
Filled with the radiant light of love… and the unyielding strength of courage.
…and all that from a young woman who’s only about 16 years old.
Good golly goodness.
Dinner was fabulous, and it was great to hang out and chat and enjoy each other’s company.
Sad to leave.
I love Cortney’s kids. I’d adopt them in an absolute heartbeat.
My last visit of the night was to my cousin Amanda (the one on my mom’s side [I have two cousins named Amanda, one on my mom’s side and one on my dad’s side]). She’s the one who came to New Zealand while I was there, but I was way up in Northland, and she was on a tight whirlwind schedule through both the North and the South Island.
So I swung by her place in Cedar Hills, and we talked traveling for the next two and a half hours. 😆
Wait, that’s not true. She first caught me up on everything that’s going on with each of her kids, and as we were wrapping up the night, she walked me through the remarkable home remodeling work that she’s done nearly completely by herself. 😲
Go Amanda!
As far as the traveling stuff is concerned, we talked about where she went in New Zealand and also about her recent trip to South Korea. We talked about her favorite travel locations and places still on the bucket list.
She’s definitely been to more places than I have, and there’s a decent chance that that will continue. I think I’m beginning to lose my wanderlust.
I think part of that is just the daily exhaustion that’s a result of continual physical pain and discomfort.
I think another part of that is having seen so much and clearly understanding that it doesn’t matter how many incredibly beautiful places I visit in the world, none of them can fill the longing for a companion to share life and all of the beauties and struggles that are a part of it.
Had a blast hanging out with her, easily could have stayed longer, but we already stayed up well past her bedtime (she’s on call for work and should have been in bed long before we finally bit each other farewell).
Absent-minded me forgot to snap the obligatory selfie.
Oh well. Next time. 🤞
Oh! I did take this picture right after ringing her doorbell but before going in the house.
Last stop of the night was driving to my brother Richard’s place and crashing on the side of the road across from his house, where I usually do when I visit him. It was quite late, so I crashed pretty quickly after arriving.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 