I'm a fan of...

...Evaporation!

Ok, this will sound silly, but, think about it. Besides being essential to the water cycle on the earth, making life possible at all,
(can you say "besides" when you're talking about making life possible at all?)
it is so wonderful on a daily basis! And so easy to take for granted.

I can wash my dishes, stack them in a drainer, and come back in a few hours. Voila! My dishes are dry and ready to be put away! It just happens! I don't have to expend any energy at all. I can hang up a damp towel or shirt, come back later, and, voila again! It's dry! And all it took was time.

Think about it.

♫ "...and the other gold" ♫

old friends...

It's amazing how you can reconnect with old friends and it's like you were never apart--despite the years.

After leaving Idaho on my trip to take Heather to BYU-Idaho, I drove to Washington state to reconnect with a couple of old friends. I stayed the night in Baker City, then drove up through eastern Washington and over to the Seattle area.

(Let me tell you--Eastern Washington is a wasteland! Thank goodness the Lord didn't send the Mormon pioneers there! It made Utah look like a lush garden. I digress...)

Growing up, my best friend was Arlynn. We met in Primary when we were three years old, and we soon became inseparable. Salt and pepper. Mustard and ketchup. Kathy and Arlynn.

Doesn't she look like fun? She was. I could do a whole blog about our adventures together. Our birthdays are only a week apart, so we kinda felt like twins. Then we kinda grew apart during the teen years. But that tie from our childhood remained.




All by myself (thank you very much), I drove to her place. Seattle traffic is way scary. (I guess I didn't do it all by myself. The Lord definitely helped me.)

For two days we talked and laughed and reminisced. We're both older and life has happened. She's had some tough times. Now she's looking happy. Good husband. Two great boys.

Wayne, Arlynn, Patrick (her other son is married and lives in Rexburg)

Things I love about Arlynn: great sense of humor, tender soul, willingness to forgive, looks for the good in others, caring about others, creative sense of fun, desire to be a peacemaker, love of family, infectious laugh, makes me feel like I'm someone special.

After leaving Arlynn, I wanted to drive to my other friend's place, on Whidbey Island. That meant taking the ferry. I was nervous about getting on the ferry, but the ticket taker gave me some good advice: "Just go with the flow. Piece of cake." I kept repeating that to myself as I drove into the line and up into the boat. Here's my view from inside the ferry:


The guy was right--piece of cake.

Then off to find my friend Lilian. She was my greenie when I served my mission. Here she is in Cologne. (Can you figure out what this sign meant? We couldn't.)
Lilian was a fun companion. A native Cuban, her German had a bit of Spanish accent. She liked to count Cocker Spaniels; she sliced bananas into the bottom of her soup; she would buy a large chocolate bar and make it last all week. (I ate mine in a couple of seconds.) (Fun fact: Her last city was my first city. She got to see a lady baptized that I found by tracting.) After our missions, we roomed together at BYU for a year.

Many years have gone by since we'd seen each other, but, as with Arlynn, we picked up right where we'd left off. She showed me around the sights of Whidbey Island. Beautiful. We spent two days talking, reminiscing, and catching up. It was so good. She's been through a lot, too, including cancer. But she's well, now.

Lilian and I in beautiful Coupeville.

The view from Deception Pass Bridge.

The view from the hills above Deception Pass.

Things I love about Lilian: ENTHUSIASM!, great people skills, deep desire to please her Heavenly Father, sense of humor, great laugh, tender heart, insightful, makes me feel like I'm someone special.

After leaving Lilian, I drove the six-hour drive home. So, I was gone a total of two weeks. Saw family, friends. Reconnected in many ways. It was a trip that did my heart good.

♫ "Make new friends and keep the old. One is silver..." ♫

cemetery sleuthing

After leaving Heather at BYU-Idaho, I decided to drive around the countryside and go visit my grandparents' gravesites. Both my parents were raised not far from Rexburg. My mom's parents, Walter and Velma Siddoway lived on a farm just outside the village of Teton and were buried in the Teton Cemetery. This little cemetery is located away from the little town itself, out in the middle of farm land. Once I located the cemetery, I had to tromp around a bit to find "Grammie and Grandad." And suddenly, there they were. We had a nice chat.

My dad's parents (Davidsons) farmed on what is called Egin Bench. They were buried in nearby Parker. So, it was off to Parker, to find my Davidson grandparents. I was less sure how to get there, but found a sign:

Parker is literally a curve in the road with a grade school, a post office, and a cluster of houses.

The Parker cemetery is right next to the highway, near the elementary school and the post office. Parker people must want to be able to visit their kin more easily than do Teton people. The cemetery straddles a little hill. I remember standing there when we buried my grandfather--the wind was blowing as we gathered around and laid him to rest. My notion of what things were important made a major shift that day... On this day, I had to tromp around a long time to find "Grandma and Grandpa." Then suddenly, there they were. We had a nice chat, too.


My most interesting find of the day was a couple of headstones in Chinese! I wondered: Who were these people? How did they come to be here in Parker, Idaho? Do they still have family here? Does anyone know they were here?


Anyone read Chinese?

taking Heather to byu-idaho

Early this month I drove Heather to Idaho to attend BYU-Idaho. Our first stop was my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Robert's house, where we spent the night.

Don't they look like nice people? They are. My aunt is my mother's twin sister--and many people have confused them over the years. I guess my mother's undertaker nearly passed out when my aunt walked into the viewing. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Gene came over for a visit while we were there, along with my cousin Shawna. I didn't get pics, though.

Here we are in front of their house. Don't we look happy? Even after driving 10 hours together?

Heather made me buy her this shirt, which I couldn't resist, because she does look awfully cute in it. We had fun shopping together in Pocatello. This is in my Dad & Stepmom's kitchen.

Here we are with my Dad and Stepmom in front of their house. Don't they look like nice people? They are.

That night we drove to Rexburg, where we stayed in a motel. Up early the next morning and off to campus. Standing in long lines. (Sitting for a while in one line.) Getting dorm room assignment. Getting ID card. Signing up for new-student-activity team. Off to the dorm.

Heather found her room.

Unpacked. Where to put it all? There is closet space behind the mirror!

Was glad to get things in place.

Met her roommate. Doesn't she look nice? She is.

We went to a student/parent luau that night. Way fun. Polynesian dancing, singing. Even fire juggling! Pretty good food.

Heather spent the night in her new home. I went back to the motel. The next morning I went back up on campus. Final good-byes. "No crying, Mom!" So, just a bit of tearing up. A hug. Turning around and walking away. Letting go is hard. Maybe I'll blog about that sometime.

She'll do great!

going home

It's a weird thing when the places of your past take on mythic qualities and seem to have meaning beyond expression. In taking Heather to BYU-Idaho, I stayed in Aberdeen, my little home town, for a few days. I grew up a couple of miles outside of town--many long years ago. My dad lives in town with my step-mom now.

It's odd to walk around and see no one I knew or who knew me. It's equally odd to go to church and see old faces grown older, grown up children with children of their own, brand new faces.

I still have dreams about the road that led out from town to our farm. Sometimes I'm walking to the farm from town or vice versa, either in a snow storm or along a weird, tree-lined road. Sometimes I'm driving, but can't see where I'm going. They paved that road recently. In all my years growing up, I prayed every summer that they would pave the bumpy gravel road so I could ride my bicycle into town or to my best friend's house without being rattled to death . They never did--except now they did.

The people who bought my dad's house on the farm have taken out the garden spot and several of the trees. They've put up a new chain-link fence across the front. The barn is gone. The corrals are gone.

Aberdeen is a tiny oasis of trees and streets and houses amidst rich farmland. Potatoes, of course, and sugar beets, and wheat. Giant sprinkler systems irrigate this arid volcanic plain. Beyond the fields stretch miles of sagebrush and lava rocks.

In town, the elementary school and middle school are both new. The high school has been remodeled past recognition. There is now a one-way street past the schools, which seems ridiculous. Many of the buildings on Main Street are empty. The Villager no longer sells clothes. The Western Auto went out of business years ago. The one-time bank is a neat little senior center. The "frosty stand" is empty and black. There are businesses there--farm implements, computer services, groceries, a store, a post office. Vicentes' old bar is still there.

This little town has a five-lane highway down Main Street and a speed limit of 25 mph. No stop-light. No traffic. It's not really on the way anywhere. If you go to Aberdeen, it's because you're going there.

When I go back to Aberdeen, I feel like a girl again--I guess I feel like I did when I left there: an insecure teenager launching out into the world. I've forgotten many of the people I once knew. I'm sure many have forgotten me.

In my mind, I can revisit so many inconsequential places there. Somehow the dirt, the sagebrush, the rocks, the fields, the roads, the buildings all mean something. I wish I knew what.