Like Old Times at the Huntsman Center

OHHIPO,

Last week in the land of your forefathers eh? Actually, you are heading to another area close to other forefathers. I woke up this morning thinking of your musical performance today. I said a little prayer for you but I was mostly selfish because I still really miss all that joyful energy that  emanated from your music when you were home with me. I’m not quite used to that quiet, lonely feeling in the house when everybody is at work and school.

It’s Sunday afternoon and we just cleaned up dinner. We had tostadas. If there is a meal to make you home sick that might be the one. All I’m going to say about church is that sister Christiansen gave her farewell, and the loud singing guy gave the talk. I was admonished by your mother to keep my eyes down and to NOT look at Jake. Useful advice undoubtedly. 

We’re going to go visit my aunt and uncle now, so finish this later.

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We’re back. Uncle Temmy seems much improved. Not only in his walking, he’s doing stairs even if he’s shuffling a little more than before (not to the extent of the 14 year Ben shuffle mind you) and he’s even doing stairs with some amount of confidence. But mentally he seems a little better too. Not as much denial of his condition and more willingness to accept help. He asked your brothers and I to carry several bags of deer feed to their basement storage room. He was telling us about his coins and I’m hoping to go to a coin show with him in January. If someone had told me last week that he was going to be doing this well in just a week I would have thought it a miracle, so a miracle it is.

Yesterday was an eventful day. We went to replace grandma’s bathroom vent fan in the morning. I was hoping for a twenty minute project but it turned into a two hour project. Mostly due to the fact that the first fan I bought, purchased solely on the basis of its low price point, was much too small for the opening of the original. I considered installing it anyway and coming back later to drywall the gaps, but I thought turning this into a two week project to save $30 bucks was way too much of a Mark thing to do. So I ran down to Lowe’s to get a bigger fan. This didn’t completely fill the space, but with a little help from grandpa, I was able to position it centrally enough so the cover would completely cover any gaps. Grandpa you wonder? Well, I always think of him when I’m doing a project over there. Especially when I go out to his garage to scrounge for items needed on a project. This time I was looking for duct tape. I had almost decided to go back to the store when I thought to look in the unlikely spot behind his old broken radial arm saw. I can’t say if I was guided to that spot or not, but I do feel confident that the last time that red duct tape was handled was when he put it there. Then, I had gotten the fan mounted with screws on one side and I worried that the other side would sag. I went out to scrounge around for something to use as a spacer. Just near that same saw was a small piece of OSB with a single drywall screw set into it. Perfect. I also imagine grandpa putting that screw in for some forgotten reason and leaving it behind. Funny thing is, with all the random stuff left on his benches, that was the only piece of wood that I could find. And It was just perfect for brace and to make sure the fan wouldn’t sag. I was also able to get the fan light working in this one, I think the old fan was wired improperly. Oh, and I got her toilet seat straightened too. Your brothers had been helping her move furniture for aunt Laurie’s visit, and took grandma to pick us up some McDonald’s breakfast and Ben cleaned up and the detritus left over from the fan job.

While we were there Artie texted and asked if I wanted to go to the game. Ben was only able to get two Muss tix so I wasn’t planning on going. To be honest, I was hesitant to accept Artie’s offer for three reasons. First, I was looking forward to having your mom to myself for an evening. Second, they were saying that byu fans were trying to buy up all the tickets to fill the Huntsman, and I really hate being surrounded by zoobies and all of their infantile cougar chants. But mostly, I didn’t have that much confidence in my team. I-know-I-know, have a little confidence, but it’s been a while since I’ve had much hope for the hoops team at Utah. But hanging out with Artie sounded good enough for me to forget about all that so I decided to go. For years I’ve been telling you guys how much fun basketball games are when the Huntsman Center is full and rocking. Well, your brothers got to experience it last night. It felt like the 90s for the first time since, well, the 90s. In those days Artie was a little boy and was so into the team, we’d go with my mom and dad with our season tickets and every game was rocking. Well, your brothers got to experience it and I think you’ve already heard their description of the experience. Hopefully, they can build on this team moving into the Big12 and you can experience it too.

I guess that’s it from me for the week. I don’t expect to hear much from you but I would like some indication of your safe arrival. You’ll always remember the experiences of this week, I remember my entry into the mission field vividly. Go in with that confidence you’ve demonstrated so far and they will always be positive memories for you.

I love you kid, I pray for you always, love, 

Pops