Tank Wars

To offset my incredible industry yesterday, I did very little today. Let's just say I was trying to bring balance to the force. Can't go too far one way or the other and have it be sustainable, I guess. 

I went coking with a dear friend this morning. Our conversation gave me a lot to ponder. And while I have no real answers for myself, much less anyone else, I want all the best things for her and wish her every good thing in the whole world. I want things to work out for her.  And I will always be cheering for her and on her side. 

My little trampoline has been jumped on by everyone that passed it today. We've decided that we might need one for every room in the house! It's so fun to watch those little bouncers. I love it. 

KJ spent his evening volunteering at the Manti temple open house and had a great experience. I admire KJ. I wish everyone could see the herculean effort it takes to be an acrobat, swinging and contorting yourself and always hoping for spotters and a net to catch you safely. I will always swing in tandem with him, arms outstretched. That is certainly part of why I was sent to earth, and what I committed to do when I brought him into this beautiful world. He is doing beautifully and I am so proud of him. 

I love this quote by our beloved Rilke, it has been very helpful for me: "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

Tomorrow is General Conference and I'm hopeful for gentle messages for this momma heart. 

Tonight Dad went to the hospital to give a ward member a blessing. While he was gone, Liv and I invented an endless game with Benson's dinosaur train tracks we originally called "Tank Wars." The trains attach into a loop that you can roll into each other in the middle of the table. We invented silly rules that no one has to abide by and tried to remember all the lyrics to Hamilton. Then Liv accidentally called the game "Tractor Wars," and that led us to outline the story line to a (very inspirational) musical based on our invention and the battle over the name. All very fun and pure silliness. 

I also showed her an unusual trick that I discovered I can do the other night while trying to fall asleep -- I can name all the presidents backwards from Biden to Teddy Roosevelt. Very random, I know. I can only go seven if I start at the beginning -- Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson. But if I go backwards I can go quite aways -- Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson, Taft, Roosevelt. She helpfully suggested I make a song to learn them all and then I'll have a real party trick (that I will have to pay people to let me show them).

Kate was keeping us company and giving helpful comments while we also swapped notes on high school being better than middle school, and couples that make out in front of your locker or lunch table (a high crime and misdemeanor).

Benson happily jumped on the trampoline, built Legos, and kept Dad company once he got home. 

I love you. I really do. Let's talk again soon.