Testimony of the Worn Shoe

Preston and I have made a goal to get to the temple together each month and it has really been great for us.  This past year I have felt the need to make it to the temple without Preston a few times, and it has been a really cool experience to have that time just for myself.  One of the days in particular was on September 23, I had decided to go to the temple early that morning it works out if I go early because I can slip out of the house before anyone is awake and get back before Preston leaves for work.  So this particular morning I had woken up and couldn't get my body to rush.  I had gotten ready slower than I had planned and got in the car not feeling rushed but totally content with when I would arrive at the temple.  It was a noticeable calm while I was driving, that I was where I should be at the time.  I arrived at the temple a few minutes before 6 am I walked into the dressing room and the lady looked at me and then looked at her watch and then kind of gave me a funny look.  It was now 6 and the next session didn’t start until 7 and initiatories didn’t open until 7 as well.  The woman didn’t look very hopeful for me but I still had a calm.  Then she said, “You may check with the sealing office and see if they need any help.”  So before getting dressed I started down the hall toward the sealing office as I walked up I saw a man who was almost frantic, he turned to another worker in the hall.  I overheard him say, “If there is anyone shows up please send them to the sealing office.”  Right as I came to meet them in the hall I asked if I could help.  He seemed to give a sigh of relief and told me to get dressed as fast as I could to be able to help.

Once I was dressed, I stepped into the sealing office and I immediately saw the patriarch from my Harmony Ward, when we lived by Mesa High, Brother Ashcroft.  He was the first one I served in that ward, and then after that I probably feed him and his daughter about every month.  I grew to really love and care about Brother Ashcroft and it was so wonderful to see him there at the temple.  As I sat down I saw a group that seemed to know each other all waiting together in the office.  I learned that they were there at 6 am every Thursday morning to do sealing together.  I also found out that one of the wives was missing and it would have made it very difficult to get through all of the sealings without another woman which I was able to fill in for.  The sealer that was in charge of the group kept turning to me and saying that I was an answer to prayers, and that they were so lucky to have me with them.  Though I felt it was the other way around.  Just to see this group so faithfully serving in the temple was so wonderful and I was really blessed to be in their company.  I was amazed that this group of elderly people chose to do sealings in the early morning each week.  When it was completely noticeable that they couldn’t get up and down easily, and that kneeling might have even been hard for them, one of them couldn’t even kneel and was given a chair, but they were there by choice serving the Lord.  To see their willingness to serve made me love them and strengthened by them. 

As we continued with the sealings I looked down toward the floor my eyes stopped on the feet the sweet lady who was kneeling at the alter and I noticed a small hole in one of her slippers.  I could tell by the style of the slipper that it was a newer pair; they looked just the same as mine in fact.  Except there was a hole.  I sat and studied the hole; it had to have come from lots and lot of use.  I remember thinking that I want a hole in my slipper just like her.  It was a symbol of her service and it was a silent testimony to me.

"SAVE THE DAY, OR AT LEAST THE DOG"

            One afternoon about the month of November, when the weather starts to become nice and the doors and windows can finally be opened, I was in my room putting on my shoes.  I was about seven years old.  It was Saturday, it was my day off of school, and I was going outside to play.  I slid my second shoe on and began to tie the bow.  Suddenly, I heard the sound of the screen door open and then shut, bouncing as it hit the door jam indicating that it wasn't fully closed.  I then heard the sound repeat, a faint squeaking as it opened and then the hush sound as it closed and bounced on the door jam once again.  The next sound alarmed me; I heard four little paws tapping across the concrete of the front porch.  I immediately jumped to my feet and ran to the door.  I saw my dog, Buster, running down the street after another dog that looked like a big mutt of some sort. It was black, gray, and white.  At that time he probably came up to my hip.

            Now, Buster wasn't the smartest dog ever.  Just by the looks of him one could tell this simple fact.  He was an overgrown Shih-Tzu, so instead of being a small dog, he was a fairly good size, just below the knee and a little over weight.  His hair was shaggy and usually hung in front of his eyes.  His coloring varied a bit, he was a light brown in the middle and on either end he was mostly white.  His head and neck, unfortunately, were the exact same size.  Consequently there was not a collar that would fit.  He also loved to run as fast as he could when he stepped outside the front door.  And since he wasn't the brightest dog, Buster didn't know how to get back home.  This made things a little risky letting him out of sight when he was in the front yard. 

            I ran down the hall and to the front door, I pushed the screen open, and sprinted after him.  I began yelling as loud as I could for my dog to halt.  He didn't even hesitate or even slow down.  He continued on as fast as he could down the street.  I tried everything to get him to stop. 

"Buster, do you want a doggy biscuit?  You come back here right now!  Buster, I mean it, STOP!"  I screamed at the top of my lungs waving my skinny arms franticly through the air.

Now that was a sight; one large dog followed by a small dog, and that followed by a lanky child, running down the street I lived on and around the corner.  The first dog jetted across a busy street to the other side, right behind him, Buster flung across.  As for me, I saw the big white truck coming down the street.  I slowed down, and stood on the corner of the block.  I was in such a dilemma I didn't want to lose my dog, but, on the other hand, I didn't want to be flattened to the pavement.  I stopped on the corner, frantically calling out my dog's name, demanding for him to stop.  The driver of the big white truck had probably seen the distress on my face and kindly let me cross.  I darted past, where I resumed my chase.    I couldn't figure out why the big dumb mutt, that was leading the rest, was running in the first place.  I just wanted him to stop, and stop sometime soon.  We passed house after house I thought we were never going to stop.  I had gained some ground on Buster but I was still pretty far behind.  We had run about a quarter of a mile, and I just wanted to slow down.  I had grown tired from the physical and emotional strain, but the chase went on.  I knew I couldn’t stop for fear I’d lose my dog forever.  About four blocks down the road, the dog stopped in front of a house.  I assumed it was his own.  I thought, "Wow, a dog that knows how to get home!"  I only wished that Buster knew where home was and then I wouldn’t have had to worry about him.  But Buster didn’t know how to get home, and that's exactly why I stayed on his tail. 

I grabbed Buster, picked him up and started back home.  I didn't trust him to walk with me, so I carried him.  I must have been a tough little girl because Buster wasn't light.  I bet he weighed at least 25 pounds.  On the way home, I had to stop and catch my breath a few times.  The school was about half way between my house and where the chase ended.  By the time I reached the school, I was so tired.  I plopped Buster down in the grass.  He was laying there on his back looking straight up at me.  I put my fists down right next to his long ears, and leaned over him.  I looked him straight in his puppy dog face I said,

"Do you see what you make me do?  Don't you ever do this again!"  I scolded him as if he understood.  Once I caught my breath I hoisted him back into my arms and finished the journey home. 

            When I finally arrived home I walked in, and set Buster down.  I then set out to find someone to tell my exciting story.  I went to my sister, who had a friend over, but they didn't seem as thrilled as I thought they should be.  At least my sister should have understood that if it wasn't for me our dog would have been long gone.  I mean, I didn't necessarily want to boast but come on; I had saved the day, or at least just the dog.  I was proud of my accomplishment anyway.  I had learned that I was a strong little girl and that I could persevere through a lot.  I could keep running after something I really wanted and go through the hardships of carrying it home.  

Catch Up!

            I was reflecting on some of the times that I felt the most amazed at myself.  I was reflecting on my track days.  There was a particular time that stands out to me. 

We were running against Red Mountain.  I was running in the last race, the 4x4.  I was also the last leg, like always.  I over heard the Red Mountain team talking.  The girl that was running against me was really nervous.  She didn’t know if she would be able to take the pressure of being last leg and win the race.  This made me a little proud, because if I was running against me I would be nervous too.  The race started.  

 As I stood waiting for my turn I watch my team fall further and further behind.  The nervous girl on the other team began to be at ease.  But my stomach tightened.  I had already decided that I was going to win.  So no matter how far in front of me she was I was still going to win.  By the time my teammate got to me, Red Mt. had already rounded the first turn.  This meant I had to make up 100 meters.  It was pretty much impossible.  But when I got the baton the thought of impossible had never crossed my mind.  I push as hard as I could.  I did catch up to her.  By the finish line, we were neck and neck.  I leaned into the finish line and fell to the ground.  My team jumped up and down like we had won.  I looked up from my back and asked my coach if we had won.  He looked down at me in amazement, but then said “Close, but no!”

Just One of the Boys

I’ve always been just one of the boys,

I wouldn’t be caught dead playing with girly toys.

Ha, I’d rather be outside in the dirt--

Scrapes, bruises, and getting hurt.

Three flies up, beast, and smear the queer,

We didn’t know the meaning of fear.

Bulldozer on the tramp, ‘til we’d throw up,

We’d roll around to make our hair stand up.

Our big adventures were incredible,

We were straight from Mission Impossible,

Double 0 agents with important stuff to do,

We really had badges, passports and code names too.

Basketball courts fit for the pros to play,

“Oh, no no no, girls don’t play here,” I’d say,

“Me?  Oh I belong here,”

“You?  You’re looking for the hopscotch, it’s over there.”

Dolls and Barbie’s I ignored,

Hoops and hockey sticks are what I adored.

So that’s about it you see,

Just one of the boys is what I’ll be.

Kansas Volleyball

 

            My junior year in club volleyball we traveled to Kansas City, Missouri for a Volleyball tournament.  There was a huge tournament there.  Our whole team was able to go, including a few coaches.  When we got to our gate we recognized Kyle Cease, or better known as Bogie Lowenstien from “10 Things I Hate About You.”  He said it made him happy that we recognized him.  None of the older people had a clue why we were making such a big deal. 

            We stayed at the Embysee Suits, us girls were on one side of the hotel and the coaches were on the other side.  We went out to eat and then stayed up all night.  We knew we had games the next day but we stayed up playing all night.  Girls will be girls.  Coach wasn’t to happy with us the next morning, we were almost late for our first game.

            The place we played at was huge!  The whole downstairs was filled with the sponsors and their booths.  The whole upstairs was amazing!  Volleyball courts as far as the eye could see.  Fifty-eight sports courts in all.  The next few days we lived ate and slept volleyball.

            On one of our free days we went shopping and found a Barbie Store.  Everything in the whole store was Barbie.  My friend Meghan and I bought matching Barbie purses.  After shopping all day we were pooped.

             I don’t think that we won very many games that trip.  But we sure did bond as a team.

Rhett's Birth

When my nephew Rhett was born I went down to the hospital to see my sister after she had her first baby.  I was single and in my first year of college.  Whitney was in recovery and Rhett had been taken to the nursery.  Whitney was laying in a bed with lots of blankets on her and shaking, (come to find out your body just shakes after having a baby).  She then started telling everyone what had happened in labor, she had been induced pushed for 3 hours and then the doctor decided he was too big and did a C-section.  Whitney was going into all the details and seeing her shaking telling this traumatic story I start to feel my head get light and I'm sure I was white as a ghost.  One of the nurses noticed told me to sit down and she got me an orange juice.  I felt so silly.  I couldn't even listen to Whitney's story and here she is just fine telling us what had happened to HER!

Ninja Turtles

While I was walking around the neighborhood today I past by a sewer manhole in the street and it made me think of when I was little.  I don't remember how old I was but I'm guessing 7 or 8.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were pretty popular at the time.  I remember sitting out in the middle of the street with my friends Kayla and Amber, knocking on the manhole asking for the Ninja Turtles to come out and play with us.  And from what I remember it wasn't just a couple of minutes we were out there all day waiting for them to come play!

Stories About Hillary told by Preston

This year I am feeling kinda dry of stories to tell about myself and since last year I have acquired a better half in my life that I have tons of fun with, I will focus on some of the funny stories that have evolved during our marriage this year. Some of these may be a little colorful but I will try my best to keep them clean.

There is the time that she had come in to the living room where I was watching TV and plopped on the couch with this cute pouty face and chuckling a little and said, “I want to tell you something because it is funny but I feel so dumb for doing it.”  I had all types of thoughts go through my head but they all pointed to the same question – How much is this going to cost me? She insured me that it was not bad and nothing was broken, then proceeded to tell me that she had waited to sign her Social Security Card because she hadn’t quite perfected her new name signature yet and wanted it to be cute.  She showed me the back of the card and in that same cute pouty face and voice she pointed out where she had spelled her last name incorrectly –StapELy. And there as no way of fixing it. People who might have to look at her SS card might not notice the misspelling if the correct spelling wasn’t typed right above her signature.

Next – my sleeping habits have changed drastically and will continue to do so I am sure once the baby comes, but Hillary has done well to prepare me for the day with her ever changing dramatic night shows.  They range form the time that she was trying to convince me that I didn’t fill out the proper paperwork for our insurance and when I probed her about what papers she responded with a convincing voice referring to the papers in her hand.  When I felt for her hand and found no papers I realized she was talking in her sleep.  But she didn’t end there.  She realized there were no papers in her hands got out of bed to go to the office to find them only to come to her senses once she was approaching the office that there were no papers but then was upset that I was correct (still under the sleepy influence).  When she returned I asked where she went and she said to get the papers but they weren’t there because “I kept faxing them to myself” is what she said.  Also there was the time that I was not able to sleep and being awake that night allowed me to experience that my wife can innocently drop her closed fist just above my eye with significant force without even realizeing it.  I just laughed for a few minutes while I waited to see how long she would leave it there.  I eventually had to move her hand.  Also there was the time that she woke me up by slapping me on the arm very hard. I am not sure if I was woken by the force of the slap or the loud noise the slap made.  Needless to say I was very confused as my wife, realizing what happened, started apologizing and telling me how much she loves me.