Live in the Moment

"To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are--always!" Richard Carlson

This week I have had the wonderful experience of living in the moment. I was able to spend time with a variety of people in a variety of places with very little, if any, real responsibility or assignment and absolutely no worry about what I "shoulda, woulda, coulda done". It was delightful.

I spent Wednesday afternoon driving to Utah with my daughter Sarah. Those of you who know Sarah have experienced, I'm sure, her gift of gab. She can carry on a conversation about anything at anytime with anyone. She is entertaining and unfailingly cheerful. We ran errands, ate together, laughed a lot and reveled in the fact that Jon had the kids! All I had to do was drive. We had a great time.

After I dropped her off at a friend's home, I went to Mom's place where I camped out for the next four nights! Sleepovers at Mom's are always fun. She never tells me what to eat, when to come home or when to go to bed, like she did in the "good ole days." She has a great bed, lots of good reading material, a variety of food that requires little, if any, preparation and there's always a puzzle in progress on one of her tables. Besides that, I really like my mom's company.

Thursday I spent most of the day in the temple with another daughter, Diana. She and her friend Lydia were there for the first time along with their sweethearts and many others, both family and friends. There is absolutely nothing like being in the temple with your husband and children. Diana and Travis, Seth and I, Ben and Heidi, Sarah, Jason, Sandy and Grandma Sally were all there. Following that, we all met (along with Aubrey and Mikayla and Cadence) for food and boisterous conversation and lots of laughter.....definitely a great "moment" to "live in". I didn't have to cook or clean up either!

Thursday evening was filled with some manual labor and an organizational workout--Mom and I found the floor in her office!!!! I piled things in my car to take to the DI, to give to Sandy, or to throw away. We giggled over some of the old sayings from Dad's office wall and remembered a few occasions from the photos we found. We put up a few new wall hangings around the house and shredded a bunch of old papers. So now Mom's office is fabulous......and still has plenty of boxes in the closet for her to go through when she needs to "live in" that kind of "moment".

My only scheduled appointment Friday was with Diana and Travis at the reception center to make final plans for their wedding day festivities. That was another one of those "moments" to savor. Diana, of course, has things well in hand. I just got to enjoy watching the two of them take care of everything. I even got a present out of it--Thanks, Travis, for the angel. She's lovely. A very important stop at the Baxter's was next, as Diana tried on THE WEDDING DRESS. Sandra really knows how to sew up a FABULOUS gown. We had to keep a very curious groom out of the room, so as not to spoil the surprise....less than a month now! I also wandered around a thrift store and a health food store, had dinner with Mom and Jason and Anna at La Casita in Springville, and kicked around a WalMart with Anna. (Can I talk about Diana and WalMart in the same paragraph?) Another completely stress free day.

Saturday I was back in the temple for Lydia and Nick's wedding. Loved being there. Between the temple and the luncheon in Fillmore, I took some time to visit several people in Scipio. Great to see many old friends there. As the luncheon was winding up, Shellie (Barkdull) Winona and her husband Darcy showed up just to say hello to me and meet Travis. Then I read for an hour or so before heading to the church for the reception. There I just sat back and watched the photographer at work, the bridesmaids primping and the groomsmen pulling jokes and Cindy (Lydia's mom) bustling around taking care of business! It was a lovely affair. About the time it started, Rebecca (another of my five daughters) arrived and we enjoyed a few minutes together, eating refreshments and going through the line twice! Travis hung with us, too. Then I was ready to head north to Mom's again for the night. So I hugged everyone goodbye and left the party behind for an easy drive to Springville and a good night's sleep.

Today I got up early and drove into Cokeville just in time for church. Sarah even cooked dinner, so my week of "ease" continued for a few more hours. What a week.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if someone else, namely Seth, hadn't taken over some of my "stuff," giving me a gift--the opportunity to just be "in the moment". Thanks, Sweetheart. I appreciate you and I'm so thankful to share my "moment in time", this wonderful life, with you. I think I can take from this week a reminder to bask in family a little more, to worry less about the details, to appreciate this precious life and remember that we only do today once......so enjoy it.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around occasionally, you could miss it."
(Ferris Bueller)