The Sunset

When one reaches age 80, as I did this week, one must acknowledge that it is the sunset time of life. Three very important things occurred: (1) my mammogram result came back negative (2) I had my driver's license renewed for five more years (something tells me I will not renew it again) and (3) my family gave me a surprise birthday party at Ruby River Steak House.

Tedder had a hard time convincing me to go. It's your birthday. You need to dress up and celebrate this great milestone in your life. I need a steak (nice dinner for a change??), so do it for me! I suggested Bajio's instead because it is much cheaper, but as we passed there it was packed.

There were a lot of people at Ruby R, but he confessed he had made a res, and we walked into a room with Katy and Steve who had driven from Salt Lake. Five grandchildren who go to BYU were there. Our oldest granddaughter, Carolyn's Paige, had worked weeks on a special book for me. It is filled with pictures of all our family and letters from every single one, including our three daughters' husbands! What a treasure it is. There is even a letter from our grandson Eric (Elder Enrique Taylor, serving in Oaxaca, Mexico, written in Spanish).

So, this morning in Relief Society I had some good news to share. Paige, besides being an exceptional professional artist, is a computer whiz like her dad. She has just set up my blog, and it is my hope that all my family will try to read it often.

Last week I read that the US House will seat a new Rep this month whose father was a share cropper in the south. As a black man, it is considered a phenomenon. My circumstances were the same, but I have never thought of myself as being anything but blessed with opportunities. My color was never a handicap, but being a woman may have been. I will write about growing up in the south, some family background with an attempt to make it interesting and amusing.
Stories of my marriage and childrearing years and profiles of our three daughters will be separate from my professional experiences of forty one years in education. Many of my experiences are unique, and I hope they will be interesting to read.

Along the way I hope to share a few recipes, and some practical advice. One of my faults is that I am a "know-it-all", and cannot resist giving advice, solicited, or otherwise.

For years I have been working on a novel about a school teacher. Would anyone be willing to follow it, if I do it in serial form, a saga done in weekly installments?