Swimming...or Not

I've always thought it would be fun to have season passes for the swimming pool, and this year we live just down the street from our community pool. So before the official beginning of summer, when we heard passes were available at a discount, we went for it. We got a pass for everyone in the family, plus what they called a "punchcard" which we can use to bring guests with us. We can also use it to go to any of the other community pools in the Chippewa Valley here in Wisconsin. I thought that might be fun; surely we wouldn't have enough other things to keep us occupied over the summer.

The first week school was out, we went to Madison. We did swim in the hotel pool, but that doesn't count. Right after we got back from Madison, our son Kevin went to a two-week "Summer Institute" program that they run here. They offered all kinds of fun classes. One of the classes he took was about building model rockets. Fun stuff. But since we had to drive back and forth to Chippewa Falls to get him to and from class (about half an hour from Eau Claire (where we live) each way, depending on how fast you drive), that didn't leave a lot of swimming time. So we didn't bother going during that time.

Right after Summer Institute was over, we drove out to Salt Lake City for a family reunion and camping trip. We went swimming then, too, but our passes to the Eau Claire pool didn't work too well in Salt Lake City.

Then Kevin broke his toe.

And all our plans changed.

He hobbled around through the camping trip (he even carved a really nifty walking stick for himself) and then spent much of the next few weeks at home with a sore toe. He got to play on the computer a lot, and got waited on a lot, so it wasn't too bad. But we didn't think jumping around in the pool was a good idea.

Just when it was starting to heal enough that we could consider swimming, we ended up going to Seattle. The week after that was Cub Scout camp. He did go swimming at scout camp, in the lake with the other boys. He had a lot of fun, too. Meanwhile, those pool passes have been burning a hole in my wallet, so to speak.

Now it's the week before school starts. And it's the end of August in Wisconsin. And it's starting to feel like fall. The weather has really cooled down. But, darn it, the pool's still open through Labor Day. And, darn it, we're going to use those season passes if it's the last thing we do. So today we're going to bundle up and go down to the pool, and sit and splash and swim in the water, and we're going to freeze, but WE ARE GOING TO LIKE IT. So help me.

Home Again AGAIN!

Summer has really thrown a lot at us this year, including a last-minute trip to Seattle last week. On Friday afternoon at about 4:30 the week before, I got a phone call from my husband that went something like this:

Him: "Should we go out to Seattle next week?"

Me: "Uhh...you mean, should YOU go out to Seattle next week, right?" He travels a lot for work and I'm used to him scheduling trips. Especially to Seattle, where he'd already been earlier in the week, and also the week before that.

Him: "No, I mean, should we go out to Seattle next week?"

Me: "Uhhh..."

Turns out that his company wanted to send him to Seattle yet again for work, and he decided that if he was going he wanted to take us with him. Our son's still on summer vacation, so it really would work pretty well. Except for some small details, like getting space in a kennel for our dog for the weekend at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Not to mention his bordetella shot, which is required for boarding a dog at a kennel, but our dog's previous vaccination had expired exactly three days earlier. (Talk about timing.) Strangely, though, while it did take some effort and several phone calls, we were able to get him an appointment for a shot and a spot in a kennel we felt good about. And we felt good about taking the trip, too. It almost seemed like we were supposed to go.

Which really has me worried. We really had a great time in Seattle, visiting the piers, some local museums, and taking a ferry ride across Puget Sound. But why was it so important for us to go? Does this mean something terrible's going to happen to us now? Is there some great reason why we were supposed to visit Seattle together?

I don't know the answer to that one--yet--but we did have a marvelous time.

Home Again

It's good to be back! We just returned from a few weeks in Salt Lake City. Latter-day Saints who have never been there tend to think of it as a kind of paradise, where everything is wonderful and there are so many important things to see and do. But when you've lived there for a while, you start taking the opportunities there for granted. And, for the most part, it becomes a regular city just like anyplace else. Your house is there, you go to work, you go to school, you go to church...the difference being that you can walk to church and most of your neighbors are there, too. But there is plenty of normalness about Utah and Salt Lake City that you'll find anywhere else. There are stores there, there are good people there, and there are also people who do things they shouldn't. Just like anywhere else.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my background, I grew up in Oklahoma and attended a small branch that we had to drive half an hour to get to each way. My parents still go to church there, though it has grown enough that it's now a ward. But the drive's the same. I was one of only a few Latter-day Saints in my high school, or in any other school I attended, and I didn't know any other way. After I'd been married a few years, we moved to Salt Lake City. Talk about culture shock! Here I was, used to being one of very few Latter-day Saints in the area, and SLC was swarming with them! But we grew to love the city and the people...and, I admit, we got a little spoiled having our church and the temple so close, and having many of our friends and associates being LDS or at least understanding who Latter-day Saints were.

And now we're living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was a little jolt to our systems to be away from "all the Mormons" again, but the circumstances here aren't anything we haven't seen before. The nice thing is, the Church is true wherever you go, and you don't have to go too far anymore to find a Latter-day Saint congregation...and home.

A Really Quick Entry

I'm posting a bit irregularly because we're on vacation right now. But through the miracles of modern technology, I can still write when I get a chance. Isn't the Internet cool?

We're visiting Salt Lake City for a couple of weeks, and I've been travelling to many of the LDS bookstores in the valley and meeting the managers and employees. I've been impressed with how friendly and helpful these people are, and how many great LDS books are available on the shelves. Of course, I am a book junkie and sometimes wish I could spend all my waking hours perusing bookstores and buying books. If I could actually do that, I think I've found some great ones to spend those waking hours in. I did come away buying more books than I originally meant to. (Don't tell my husband. ;-)

Till next time...

Katie

Learning to Swim

(A poem by someone (me) who doesn't claim to be a poet.)

When I was a young girl,
my mother tried to teach me to swim.

She held me in her arms
and helped me to float on the water.
Then she told me she would let go.

Well, I knew better than to let her do that.
My earthly experience with water had taught me
that if you don’t have something holding you up,
you sink.

I tried to explain this to her,
but my mother didn’t seem to understand this fact.
She told me to just be still and relax,
and I would float.

I felt the support of her arms leaving me,
and I kicked and struggled to stay above the water.
“See,” I told her. “You sink.”

“Just be still,” she told me. “The water will hold you up
if you let it. I have been swimming for many years
and I know these things. If you are still,
you will float.”

Eventually I tried it.
And the funny thing was, I did float.

Sometimes I remember this now,
when I don’t like the trials that come to me in this life.
(This happens often.)
Sometimes I kick and struggle to get out of them,
or at least argue that they should not be happening.
My earthly experience has taught me
that my trials are not a good situation.

But God has been God
for much longer than I have been me.
And I must have faith.
It isn't always easy.
Usually it is very hard.
But we are here to learn to walk by faith
and to trust in Someone we don't even see
but who knows that if we will,
we can float.

Be still, and know that I am God.

All material copyright 2005 Katie Parker

Vacation in Paradise

We just spent the last several days in Madison, Wisconsin, which is about three hours away from where we live in Eau Claire. Since we are new to Wisconsin, we'd never been there before. We weren't too sure what we'd find. Madison is one of those cities you learn in fifth grade when you memorize the states and capitals, but it isn't one you hear of much as a tourist spot or big-league city. In fact, every time I asked friends in Eau Claire what there was to do in Madison, the response was pretty much, "Uh..."

I've come to the conclusion that Madison doesn't have many big attractions that tourists must see the way Disneyland or Washington D.C. does. But Madison's a pretty cool place. It's got an atmosphere all its own. State Street starts downtown and ends up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and it's closed to cars, so it's a great place to go walking. And walking is one of my favorite things to do. There are lots of interesting stores (the travel guide we read called them "funky") and tons of restaurants with all types of cuisine and open-air seating right on the sidewalk. (This, of course, would not be nearly so much fun in the wintertime.) After dinner, you keep walking up State Street and end up at the university's student union. Get some really yummy ice cream inside and then go outside on the terrace, which is directly on Lake Mendota, and watch the sunset and chat with the people you love. How cool is that?

We also travelled down to Janesville and went on a tour of the GM factory there. Then we visited the LDS bookstore there, Line Upon Line Books. What a neat little store! I am amazed that there is an LDS bookstore in the area at all, since there aren't tons of Latter-day Saints or a temple nearby. But there it is, and the owner is a neat lady who loves LDS books. I remember growing up in our little branch in Oklahoma and feeling so disconnected from other Latter-day Saints in general, but when we had the rare opportunity to visit the LDS bookstore in Dallas it was almost like coming home. There were books and music there that spoke specifically to me and my needs and beliefs. People in the Janesville area or who visit are very lucky to have this gem in their midst.

I think that one reason we remember the places we vacation so fondly is because everything is just right when we go. Usually we don't have to worry about work, homework, school, bills, housework, laundry, making dinner, or any of that stuff. We can just relax with our loved ones and have a great time. So I will remember Madison and Janesville very fondly. I've got that sunset etched in my mind forever.

Random Thoughts

I have no brilliant thoughts popping into my mind today. And I looked through my journal entries for the past week and learned that I've had no brilliant thoughts for about a week. (Well, one could argue that I've NEVER had any brilliant thoughts, but that's another story.) Anyway, so here are some random things going on with me.

• Today's my son's last day of school. He is very excited. Yesterday he told me he was bored already.
• We saw Star Wars Episode III not too long ago. I wish they would have cut down on the battle scenes and spent more time on plot and character development, but overall it was a pretty good ending to the saga. I thought Palpatine was particularly convincing as he twisted the truth in order to lure Anakin to the dark side. Pretty scary, isn't it, how the dark side and the Evil One work just like this in our own lives--making bad things appealing with half-truths and shreds of goodness.
• My dog sometimes meows like a cat. Go figure.

Enjoy the summer!