influence and perspective

The kids are growing up so fast now. I look back now over more time and memories than I have left with them at home. I remember days after school in 6th grade with the oldest boy rocking him still as he struggled with what friends would give the right influence for him. We talked about who he would be and who he wanted to be with. Several years of trying different ones on and now he seems to have found a stability in who he is and who he identifies with. Now he is looking up to young men a few years ahead of him and influenced by their example. I am glad I have helped him meet/associate with these young men(EFY and YM counselors,LDS friends and missionaries). These people have a framework that they are living their lives around that provide positive values and perspective. They are not perfect and the organization they are involved in is not perfect BUT the Gospel of Jesus Christ is and for me that separation is simple and complete. It can be messy but in these difficult times the simple vision I have to teach my kids how to be good people with successful relationships lies there. My daughter will be larger and better than I but I hope she remembers that simple way. She will do great things. She too has found what makes her happy in friendships and clearly sees the influence people can have. Now I see the baby making his way to 6th grade smiling from ear-to-ear as he is invited to play with friends, still navigating the way through influences and I hope I can show him the same or guide him along his own journey. I love seeing the people my kids are becoming and I am so glad to know them. They are my greatest work.

My marathon

I started playing the flute in 9th grade (most started in 6th grade) and I taught myself how to play with some help from my band teacher the summer before. My journal entries from that time are all about what goals I had and playing each day to reach them. Then I played in a flute choir and took a few private lessons in college for a year. I really enjoyed it but didn't have some of the basic skills such as counting mastered very well. So for the past 6 years I have been taking flute lessons again and I have had lofty goals for myself. One was to be able to play a really extensive piece memorized with my teacher playing piano. With recitals in the winter and spring I have probably played a dozen times now in front of an audience in this venue and I can now make it through the entire song, not lose breath and I have memorized a Debussy piece! as well as keep counting to stay together with piano--difficult esp when nervous!!!! This is me playing Prelude to the Afternoon of a faun by Claude Debussy. --minus the middle half due to time constraints for the recital. Enjoy! Now I would like to work on enjoying the audience more but that is a way off I think:)http://www.motionbox.com/videos/d498deb1191be3c35c

Doing

I can usually find no shortage of things to do to keep me busy. Today I am fondly thinking of all the places I have lived and found activities to do in and around. Just the other day I was telling the kids about when I lived at the top of a very long hill in Council Bluffs, Iowa and how my Dad would take a running start in the car to make it up, which I remember taking a few tries to do in the icy winters we had there. In the summer we kids would ride our bikes down the hill, oh so fast, with our legs flying out like we were ready to take off with wings. I actually hit the curb with such speed that I bit through below my lip once. Then when we moved to Bemidji my parents bought us ice skates(I actually have memories of doing this in Iowa too but at parks) and my Dad would flood the front yard and we had our own personal pond. One Christmas we all got Nordic cross-country skiis and we would go on the trails very close to where we lived by the Concordia language village. I have taken these skiis with me wherever I lived after I got married and used them in Pocatello on a golf course that they groomed with trails. Tim got a pair as well and then they went in storage. Not much snow in Seattle close to where we lived and we didn't go and do much in the way of getting out and enjoying it. But we did visit the beach and we had a great walking path and bike trail close to our house there. But the skiis stayed in storage. We moved back to MN and for the first time yesterday I pulled them out of the garage, tried on the old boots and made my way to the park/lake across the street. It was a beautiful day. The conditions were just right. It had snowed a few days ago. February snow is so good for skiing and it was still cold enough to not be sticky. The no-wax glide bottle was frozen (purchased in Pocatello) and after a brief thaw and application to the skiis that had been dug out of the garage cobwebs and brought in the house, I was off! I have been looking forward to this all week. I could just tell it was going to be perfect. I arrived at the edge of the lake, and no one was around except the busy city traffic and freeway nearby. I looked up as I had a feeling I wasn't alone as the birds were all a twitter and this guy/gal Eagle had probably just finished a meal of fish.

Well there is no better greeting than that for a good morning! So off I went and someone else had broken a trail before me so I hopped right on to the frozen ice and skiied around the trail. It didn't go all the way around the lake so I made more trail on the other side. Now it is said that cross-country skiing is one of the best aerobic excersises to do. It doesn't seem like one does much but I was sweating and shedding layers after 20 minutes. Another 30 minutes later and trying to take photos of myself, I headed for home. I had a marvelous time and it is a gray day today so I am going to surround myself with these photos!