Fake pink eye

 Oh hi Bakey,

I have a few minutes before I go pick up Ben. Mom has class tonight and Joe has the late shift. 

I’ve been thinking of you a lot. I hope you’re doing better than you feared. Generally, life is not as horrible as we fear or as blissful as we hope. So much of how we experience life depends on how we choose to perceive it. But this letter is not to lecture you, it’s just to check in.

On Monday after we chatted, mom and I we were set to go make a deal on a VW Atlas. I asked mom how she felt about it, she said “I’ve been praying about it and I don’t feel anything.” Sound familiar? I think mom is a bit like that, she’s not one to have revelation or dreams or anything, she’s just a person who intrinsically knows what the right thing is. Anyway, on the way to the dealership we stopped for a snack at McDonald’s. We were chatting about the car and everything else. I felt a little frustrated, not that that’s anything unique for me. As we were walking to the car I told mom that. The feeling was pretty minor, but as it’s a big choice for our family, I mentioned it to mom. I asked if she minded if we decided not to go to the dealer, for now anyway. She said that as I said that she felt a little bit better. Sometimes, that’s how subtle the Spirit talks to you. We may change our minds in a week or two, but for now, we are fine with the decision we made.

So we decided to go shopping anyway. Bishop Snarr had a party for the priests making pizza in an outdoor pizza oven. He spent a lot on his. Mom and I had been talking about looking at them for a while, so we went to scheel’s to check them out. As you know, Scheel’s is awesome but the charge retail for everything. I had in mind a wood pellet version because, well, it cheaper. We had watched a whole bunch of YouTube video’s and the wood fueled ones seemed like a huge pain. The gas fueled ones were over $600 bucks though. We found a smaller model that they had in a fancy store at the mall, so mostly for fun, we went over there. When we got there, the thing looked pretty good, there were two price tags on it, one for less that the wood fueled one we were trying to avoid. Mom, in her way, made friends with the sales ladies there and they let her have it for the lower price. Ben was pretty excited when we got home. He had some pizza from one early on his mission. He was making naan bread dough for Navajo tacos. We used that for both scones and pizza dough, it was really good. He’s all excited to make more pizzas tomorrow. The dough is already in the fridge.

After Joe got home from work, we went to Guitar center to buy and amp for his bass. They were having a huge sale so he got a good deal. We got home and plugged it in to the bass we made. I’m no musician, but it sounded awesome. He’s already playing the base lines from Beatles songs.

When we were at guitar center, they had keyboards with piano, electronic piano, and organ sounds. I was thinking if you wanted something like that for your birthday or Christmas after you come home it would round out you band really well.

That night I started putting up some fancy trim in the living room upstairs. I want to do the trim on two walls, build a bigger fireplace mantle. Then we’ll paint, maybe put in new flooring, maybe. Then upgrade our furniture. If this all get’s done before you get home I’ll consider myself fast.

Tonight I’m feeling pretty free and easy because YM got canceled. I’m not lying when I tell you it’s better than Christmas.

I need to hop in the car and get Ben. I’ll send this tonight.

———-

Well, it’s almost bedtime now. I picked up Ben and since Joe and mom were working late we stopped by JCW. I’m spending a lot of time with Ben and I’m really enjoying it. I worry that he should be more social with friends or the young ladies, but I’m sure it will happen. They were playing the Rose Bowl game, I really miss Covey and Lloyd.

We came home and I worked a bit more on the wall thing. As I think about and have a hard time describing it I’m not even sure what the purpose is. Is “because it looks interesting” a valid purpose? 

Anyway Jake, I hope you’re finding some common ground with your comp. I hope you can find a way to serve how you want to serve despite him, or your fears or your doubts. You are as worthy and capable as anyone, including Ben and mom.

Love-YA-I-tell-YA!

Pops