Here is what one of my weekends last October consisted of, from the sublime to the disappointing.
I went to this wonderful owl program at the library. It was awesome. There were real owls and seeing them up close truly touched my owl-loving heart. But unfortunately, all I have to show for it is this newspaper clip.
I went to this wonderful owl program at the library. It was awesome. There were real owls and seeing them up close truly touched my owl-loving heart. But unfortunately, all I have to show for it is this newspaper clip.
Why is that, you may ask? Well, I should have gotten amazing up-close pictures of these beautiful owls, but I couldn't because my phone was missing. Sam had used it earlier that day and when I left for the library I didn't realize that I didn't have it, and I didn't have time to go home and get it. I found out later that it was actually in the back of my car the whole time which made the whole thing even more frustrating! I was so upset. I loved seeing and learning about the owls, but my heart ached that I couldn't take any pictures of them because I didn't have my &*#% phone. I literally cried on Peter's shoulder about it when I got home. 😠I hope the library will bring back this program again because I will definitely be there--WITH MY PHONE! 🦉
Later that evening we went out to dinner with my high-school friends and their husbands. It was so fun. This is one of my favorite things about moving back to Massachusetts. I love my friends and that they've been my friends since I was 13. Their husbands are my friends too, and I've known two of them ever since we were in high-school. We're all planning on taking a trip to Mexico together next year! (I hope we'll all still be able to do that in light of what's going on with the pandemic and the economy.)
The next day we went to the DCU Center in Worcester for a devotional with President M. Russell Ballard and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The last time I was there was when I was in college and that was to see President Hinckley.
Elder Christofferson speaking. (I love his last name!)
Sam brought his new Fury 325 stuffed animal. What a great member missionary he is. 😄
Some of my friends were in the choir. The choir was SO GOOD. Honestly they sounded like angels.
President Ballard gave an excellent talk about American history and tied it together with the restoration of the gospel and the hand of the Lord in that and the direct relevance of that to us. He talked about his ancestor John Howland, who is also Peter and the boys' ancestor. John Howland came over on the Mayflower and almost died when he fell overboard. Thank goodness he didn't! From him have come many well-known people, including the Bushes, the Roosevelts, the Smiths (as in Joseph Smith), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and (one of my personal favorites 😄) Christopher Lloyd, a.k.a. Doc from Back to the Future and Professor Plum in Clue. And Peter and John and Sam. 😊 And President Ballard, who talked about the hand of the Lord in the miraculous preservation of John Howland's life and in all that was to come after that. He also urged us to start a new movement and to pray for our country and its leaders as never before. That got a lot of people's attention, and now it seems especially prescient in light of what was to come in the following months. There was a very special feeling there as he spoke.
This is a good article about his excellent talk:
“Brothers and sisters, please look for the Lord’s hand in your lives and in the lives of your family.”
The opening and closing prayers were given by the man who gave me my patriarchal blessing when I was in high school and a friend of mine from my old ward in Connecticut. This is another thing I love about living in New England again.
All in all, it was a great weekend. It would have been a wonderful one if I'd gotten those owl pictures, but it still turned out to be pretty great in spite of that!
