BJ's Blog

Crazy weekend. Got called out at 2 a.m. Saturday for an apartment fire on Eccles Ave: 3 families needed a place to stay. Then mid-morning I got called to meet another family at the Red Cross office. So not much sleep. Then Sunday, we had the annual meeting at church and I was elected to the Board of Trustees 🙂 Unfortunately Maggie stayed home ill 😦 She’s back to the doctor today to see what’s up. We thought strep, but the test came back negative. Her throat looks like crap though.

I had big plans for a day at the office, working up a syllabus for summer…instead it looks like another day of errands. Maybe I’ll get in a swim this afternoon? The kids have 2 weeks left of school and it will be crazy until then. Tuesday: choir concert at the Union Station (MM), guitar recital (MM), dinner with grandparents. Wednesday: play (JR), dentist (MM & JR), al-anon Wednesday (BJ). Thursday: viola (JR), TaeKwonDo (MM), PFLAG meeting (BJ). And interspersed in there are pet-sitting for Scott & Shelley (no big deal really), cleaning, shopping, yard work, fitness (ha!), walking the dogs, and meals. How does anyone have time to work?!

I’m spending the day catching up on little things: washing bathroom rugs, reading a folder full of articles about technical communication (4 down, 3 to go), taking the Prius in for the floor-mat/pedal recall issue, and so on. Watched an amazing thunderstorm this afternoon–glad I took the dogs out this morning. Maybe tonight I can watch “The Blind Side.”

At the end of my 3rd week off, I’m beginning to feel some anxiety about upcoming classes: both summer and fall, which won’t be far behind. I have plenty of trips planned for May/June: Kayenta for Memorial Day, Great Basin with Maggie during the first week of June, Torrey for the 2nd weekend, and Portland with Jake during the third week. So that means I need to bust out a syllabus *before* the kids get out of school, which is in 2 weeks. Eek! This is how time compresses.

I watched the 6th grade from Wasatch Elementary compete at the Ogden district’s math olympiad. This is Jake’s third year competing–Maggie competed last year but didn’t make it this time–and I’ve never seen him! So I was glad to be able to observe the frenzied race to win at various math-related games. Jake rocks at Krypto. His team took 2nd; the 1st place team was the Accelerated Learning Academy team, who rather than competing with the rest of Heritage school, for some reason competes as a separate entity. Anyway, it was fun to watch the kids get so amped.

Just reading a review of The Glass Castle…”memoirs are our modern fairly tales.” I’ll have to ponder that one.

I posted my current thoughts on *The Glass Castle* to Goodreads. As a model for writing a memoir/biography, I think there may be some useful ideas: the focus on a relatively short time period (the author’s childhood) and the first person perspective (which leaves out all of the unknowns: Dad’s adventures, the siblings’ whereabouts, etc.). But Walls’ next book, Half-Broke Horses, may offer more ideas. In this book, she explores her grandmother’s upbringing, using 1st person and a more fictionalized approach.

Yesterday, I re-read Grandma G’s autobiographical essay for freshman comp and some of her travel journal, written during her trip to Europe in 1962. I forgot how much information is contained in that ab essay grandma wrote: her dad dying of TB, her mother’s subsequent institutionalization in a sanatorium, Elvira’s death from TB a couple of years later, and the girls’ move to the city. Viola had not yet been killed. Maybe I should write about my Grandma G’s life? I think I saved the letters she wrote me…perhaps I could gather enough material to write about her.

Then I read a couple of letters mom wrote to her in 1963–one not long after Kennedy was assassinated. I love how her letters capture the day-to-day activities; they truly chronicle the life she and dad led. So there’s certainly plenty of material to work with there. Hm. I suppose I should start with something. There’s a thought!

when I just didn’t feel like writing…I’ll post something tomorrow after I’ve finished The Glass Castle.

We had a beautiful weekend at Snowbird: sunny, relaxing, fun. Jake’s gotten to be an amazing skier: he took on Regulator Johnson while it was still cold and crusty without any complaint. I’m so proud of him! And Maggie enjoyed swimming and some alone time in the room 🙂

I’m reading The Glass Castle…pretty heavy stuff. Although she abdicates her role as mother, the mom has some interesting insights: while explaining to her daughter why she shouldn’t try to move the stunted and twisted tree to a more hospitable location, she says “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.” This statement parallels the mother’s philosophy about child rearing; that is, children–and people in general–should not be coddled, should not be supervised, should not be helped much at all. Everyone must make their own way. If she weren’t so dysfunctional I might believe a lot of what she says! Because I was so curious about the writer and her family, I looked her up and found this video of her and her mom.

We’re here at Snowbird for the weekend 🙂 The weather is supposed to be fine. We’ll ski a bit tomorrow and Sunday, swim in the pool, and generally relax. Yay! I’m a lucky mama.

After a couple of beautiful spring days, the snow has returned. Crazy spring weather. I didn’t do any reading yesterday, but I walked the dogs, watched Maggie’s presentation on Davis County, shopped at Home Depot, cleaned grout in the kitchen counters, got a haircut, and helped out with Ogden’s Make a Difference Day–check out our cool yellow shirts! Where does the time go? Today I have yoga, a DAT leader meeting, and more chores (making popcorn and rice krispie balls for Mother’s Day at the church; shopping for mother’s day cards; doing laundry; cleaning bathrooms; and preparing for our weekend at Snowbird). Tomorrow is a field trip to This is the Place Monument with Maggie’s class. And so life flies by.

That was my intention for yesterday’s yoga practice. I haven’t been to a yoga class since the end of January 😦 and I’ve really missed it. My elbow did okay, though I need to be sure I bend it slightly, don’t lock it up. Anyway, I was filled with joy after the practice but then experienced an afternoon of what I can only call RAGE. Everything made me angry. And everyone around me seemed angry. So was it something in the atmosphere? Something I was imparting to everyone around me? I remembered something Kathi Needham, my yoga instructor, once said about yoga: it brings up all kinds of emotions. Sometimes you’ll feel happy, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, etc. I haven’t felt rage in a long time; I’ve mostly felt serene (thank god, my higher power, or whoever it is that guides my existence). So perhaps I was due for a good round of rage–the scary hormonal kind, where a spilled glass of water can send you into a fury. I stopped short of throwing things, but you get the idea. Now the storm has passed. Everyone seems at peace this morning, including me. Strange how I ride the sea, thinking I’ve gotten into a kind of rhythm, then “bam,” a big wave hits me and I’m suddenly buffeted about until another stretch of calm water comes along. I’m never ready for it. But can I get better at recognizing that I’m in a swell? Learn to ride whatever comes my way?

I watched “Bright Star” yesterday morning…it’s good. Everyone died of TB back then. The movie made me realize how much people had to live for the moment. John Keats’ life was so short yet it was incredibly intense. Reminded me of the intensity of adolescence–when every day was filled with meaning and every emotion seemed cause for poetry. The agony and ecstasy of existence. Sigh.