January Blah

Dear Michael, it was great to talk to you on Monday. I hope you are feeling better by now. Your grandma texted me to find out if you were ok because she hasn’t seen a letter for awhile!

I think today’s letter is going to be short and sweet because I can’t think of much to tell you. January can be sort of slow and uneventful, for which I am grateful.

1. Blake had a meeting with his school counselor to talk about his grades and academic track. He’s doing very well and we are pleased. Meetings like that are sort of parent payoff moments. He’s also working hard at the gym a few times a week, playing rec basketball, and logging a lot of hours on the playstation. He’s decided to grow his hair out, so we will see how that goes.

2. Ty pulled and all-nighter on Thursday studying for a test and trying to get all of his end of term assignments in.  He’s trying to juggle a lot with school and work and skiing. He’s trying to talk me into shifting half of his classes online so he can have full ski days every other day. I’m not so sure about that. He’s struggling with his ski gear right now. The boots he bought for the season are way too big, and he keeps damaging the edges of his brand new skis. He’s currently obsessing about trying to remedy the situation. He’s frustrated with his manager at Jersey Mike’s because he gets schedules for shifts he doesn’t want, and the manager is cracking down on free food. Still he sometimes brings home sandwiches to share and we all love that. Seems they have had a covid outbreak among employees and had a lot of people sick last week. And Brook has been sick on and off since before Christmas, so we haven’t seen her lately.

3. Ethan’s ski program has started. His friends Luke and Seth are skiing with him. He came home SO happy on Friday night and said he had the run of his life. I guess he hit some jumps and people from the lift cheered for him! Ethan is very helpful at home, doing well with piano, and continues to play basketball. He looks so much like you at that age.

4. Tate is still a royal pill. It’s the best thing to send him off to preschool for a few hours a week.

5. Jett seems to be doing just fine. He’s reading a lot and enjoys playing indoor soccer right now. He wishes he could do karate too. He got a science magic kit for Christmas and we did a few experiments together that changed the color of paper. He’s at a fun age. Still wearing his shirts backwards.

6. Dad is loving his new truck. He’s spending the afternoon making doorstep visits to people in the ward, trying to ease into his new calling. Hopefully he doesn’t come home with covid, because everyone in the ward is sick. I guess 3 of 4 sacrament meeting speakers called in sick today. I can’t figure out why church wasn’t canceleld. Once again, nobody asked me.

7. I’ve been hanging around the house trying to clean up after your brothers. And also I read an actual physical book this week. It was short! I spent a lot of time doomscrolling. Geez it feels like the world is unraveling this week. The state of Utah officially waved the white flag of surrender to covid. They have run out of covid tests and have told everyone to just skip testing and try to stay home. Meanwhile the Salt Lake Tribune is writing absolutely scathing editorials about failed leadership and Republican politicians are having an absolute meltdown on twitter over it. They are in complete denial and think Utah’s covid response has been great.  That’s because the economy is pumping and all they care about is money. True story. At one point in the week schools from Davis county sent letters to parents telling them they could send their covid+ kids to school. Davis School District is having serious competency problems and the Superintendent announced his retirement (resignation?) this week. One of my tweets was referenced in the Salt Lake Tribune, and the governor actually responded to it. Seriously Utah is a hot mess.

8. Actually the whole country is a hot mess.  President Biden's agenda absolutely got murdered this week. On the heels of Manchin refusing to make a deal on Build Back Better, Biden made a big push for voting rights this week. And then Sinema dashed his hopes. For some reason it’s ok to bypass filibusters for Supreme Court nominations and debt ceiling limits, but not for voting rights. And the Supreme Court denied Biden’s workplace vaccine or test requirements. Not because Biden was wrong or because there was no legal precedent, but because the court is packed with right-wingers who don’t even have the common sense to wear a mask during a surge in the pandemic. Omicron is wreaking havoc on hospitals, businesses, and schools. Republicans are doing everything they can to spread disease and prolong the pandemic. And then they are blaming Biden that covid isn’t under control by now. I know I sound hyperbolic, but geez its exhausting.

9. It’s been a long time since we’ve had rain or snow, and nothing in the forecast for at least another 10 days. The air is getting to the point where you can practically chew it..

10. My lemon tree is blooming again. The last time it bloomed, one cluster produced 10 tiny lemons! Kelsey told me I needed to thin them so that they could fully develop instead of staying tiny. So I did the terrible deed of pulling most of the tiny lemons off.  Anyway, now the tree is blooming again in different spots, so I may still end up with 10 lemons in the end.  

And now for a spiritual thought. Today’s sacrament talks were about contention and personal worth. I’m sort of ambivalent about the topic. On the one hand, I feel like we emphasize avoiding contention so much that we have a culture in the church to avoid discussing difficult but necessary topics.  I listened to a fantastic podcast this week about the complaints of racism against the Davis School District.  The guests shared stories of how their lives had been impacted by racism, but also shared stories about how their ecclesiastical leaders made them feel welcome and validated by discussing the issue of racism from a church perspective.  One of the things they mentioned was that racism can be a contentious topic, and that makes leaders reluctant to bring it into a church setting.  I thought that was something interesting to think about.  Avoiding difficult topics can also cause harm.  But certainly all of us can understand how contention drives away the spirit, and can also lead to feelings of self-doubt and also contempt of others. This is something I’ve struggled with over the past few years as I’ve tried to reconcile local politics and pandemic response.  I have felt so much contention, and it’s really easy for me to not recognize the individual worth of people I disagree with. Bailey Hall shared a story about how their front yard was torn up for months and months with the pipeline construction. He was rightfully frustrated by the situation, but chose the higher road. He befriended the construction workers and made the best of the situation. They in turn respected him and restored his yard in a careful way.  It’s easy to imagine the workers leaving his yard a mess if he had behaved angrily toward them. And easy to imagine him consumed with anger over the coarse of the project. EJ Johnson also spoke. He told such an interesting experience.  They did an experiment where they put cooked rice into 2 separate containers. They labeled one jar “hate” and the other “love.” They told their kids that any time during the week that they were tempted to be angry or shout at their siblings, they should shout at the hate jar.  Whenever they were feeling good and loving, they could express their feelings to the love jar.  By the end of the week, the hate jar was full of mold and the love jar was just barely starting to turn bad.  So interesting. I’ve heard that house plants respond similarly when spoken to. How interesting that the energy we send out into the world can have such an effect. And if it can have an effect on objects like rice and plants, what effect do our words and actions have on other humans? On ourselves? Something to ponder. 

I hope you have a fantastic week my dear!

We love and miss you,

Mom