This Week's News from the Old Homestead

These are the headlines from this past week in Johnsonville:

Nicole and Mom got new phones.
Believe it or not, dad is cleaning the garage.
We got our Education Week tickets.

Yes, Dad is cleaning the garage. He asked Mom what she wanted for Mother's Day and Mom said, "A clean garage." It's an idea whose time has come, don't you think?

This week Mom has been fighting writer's block as she drafts her penultimate research paper of her undergraduate career. She is trying to muster something worthwhile to say about "The Dead" by James Joyce and then she will tackle producing some brilliant research about George Eliot. That August deadline for graduation looms threateningly in the near distance.

We had a stake Relief Society service day on Saturday. Among the projects to choose from were gardening and beautifying the city of Sykesville, visiting residents of Harmony House (an assisted care facility), or making quilts for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. Mom spent a couple of pleasurable and peaceful hours (a lovely break from studying) piecing a flag quilt top and then a morning stitching (and chatting) with other women as we quilted them.

Dad has been busy tending to his tomato plants and trying to outsmart the deer. The repellent du jour is Dial soap -- a bar hangs suspended from each tomato cage.

Nicole started work for Brother Koncurat this week. She and Dad are able to drive to work together and would be able to come together if Dad didn't have to work longer hours. It's nice to have more life in the house as well as an enthusiastic leftovers eater.

Nicole and Mom are very excited about their new phones. Nicole traded up from her first phone -- a graduation present from three years ago. Mom has had hers for maybe eight years (and it was the cheapest one available when she bought it). She asked the salesperson at Verizon to please not laugh when she saw Mom's dinosaur phone. The women responded that no, she wouldn't -- she'd seen many old, old phones in her job. When Mom handed over the old phone the salesperson started laughing and then apologized, saying, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

And now, a word about Mother's Day from Mom:
I think the best thing I did for each of you was to marry your Dad. You could not have a finer Dad or one who loves you more.
Dad and I love talking about how sweet, how cute, how funny, how smart each of you were as children. Those were wonderful years for us to be together as a growing family and we are sorry that time in our lives went by so quickly. We could not have loved any of you more and we continue to be very proud of you. We pray for you and those perfect grandchildren each day.
More than anything, I hope we will be a family forever -- that there will be no empty chairs around our table in eternity.