Seven things

1. I have never been  really involved in sports and overall I have not had much interest in sports throughout my life. The exception was that in my Senior year in High School I made the Varsity Wrestling Team. With no prior background or participation in any sports I made the team. I took the 141 weight category and represented the school in maybe 1/3 or more of the events. For three of the smaller schools we played I won the match by pinning the other player in minutes. The biggest event was against the other home town High School. Many were there to watch. I lost.  The loss was hard. I think if I had spent 3 or 4 years in the program I would have been a much more formidable opponent in my senior year.  Wrestling was a sport I really liked and boxing has been one I have always liked. 

2. I took piano lessons for a least 5 years or longer in late grade school and junior high.  I just don't remember for sure. I took it long enough that I should have been better at the end than I was. The teacher I had was very traditional and just had a set way to learn and a set pattern of what to play........ that was boring. She would sit in her kitchen and listen to me play at practice through the closed door. I had no understanding of what I was missing until years after I had stopped the lessons. I never once played a song that I recognized or enjoyed.  I think I could have done a lot better. The quality of the teacher is important.

3. I have ran 13 marathons. I ran at least 10 miles a week for 25 years. Sometimes the mileage was much higher. For 13 of those years when I did a marathon I would have mileage that went as high as 70 miles a week. I don't know if I have enough mileage under my belt to have run around the world but I could have made it across the US and back for sure. Course it would have taken me 25 years or else I would have had to take a lot of time off.

4. In September of 1971 I listed on a sheet of paper 15 things that I had as goals to make me a better person. I rated myself on each of those goals at least once a year for 10 years and have looked at those ratings often. I rated myself again in July of 2013 and honestly felt I had improved each item significantly.

5. In January of 1978 I started a journal and wrote summaries of the events of my life. The entries were regular, sometimes monthly, and always were made several times a year through around 2002.  Even since then I have made regular entries.

6. Once when I was in junior high school I got in a fight with a fellow a lot bigger than myself. He knocked me down several times. When he beat me in that fight it was embarrassing. For some reason the experience left me understanding that it was just one fight and made little difference. I lost my fear to fight. I had a few other fights after that loss and won them.  Looking back at life, it in some ways, has all been a fight. I have lost count of how many times I have just gotten up and moved on. I have never feared a fight. Maybe I should have?

7. In 1971 one of my goals had to do with my desire to "learn" more. My efforts to learn more have been regular and sincere and to my thinking what I hoped for in growth was substantial. What I have learned over the last 42 years is that I need to learn more.

Instead of 7 thoughts just a thought provoking thought

A note to my good friend and companion

I remember when I was young, so was you
Time Stood Still
Love was all we knew

Look at us now
After all these years together

Look at us now
After all we have been through

Look at us now
Still leaning on each other
Perhaps me more than you

If you want to see
How true love really should be
Then just look at us now

Look at you
Still pretty as a picture
You light up the room when you enter

Look at you me now
Still crazy over you

Look at us both
Still believing in forever

A trail of people who made a difference

Today I got an email from a friend who lives in the Washington DC area.  He wrote about the full fall season, the impressive autumn array of deep orange and caramel browns while the leaves keep falling. 

Our back yard had it's "stunning few weeks" of bright red and some oranges but it is close to being over.  Our blue sky almost never fails us.  The mountains are "pretty good".

A note from a  good friend who is now far away is very welcome. It is a little surprising and or less than what you would really hope for how many good friends just don't stay in contact. It takes an effort but mostly as I look back over the years I recall the people on the trail.

What is life and for that matter what will the eternities be like is a important question...............at least I think it is.  Mostly the answers you find are illustrated as a trail we took, a path we followed or even a trip. The pictures I posted today are on the trail. Even my friends pictures bring back memories of when I was there and my recollections. I don't think that life is just places, especially pictures. I don't think the trail is places or things. New cars are nice for a few days but most new things just become old things. The best part of the trail was and continues to be "the people" on the trail. 

Today's email was a good thing. A reconnection again of one that has been somewhat regular.  Emails make it all easier. I got a phone call yesterday from an associate from years past from Utah who was asking for recollections of a very good friend from my collage days. The friends daughter was looking for some insight into her dads  life. Her dad had been my very good friend. He and another friend had a great deal of positive influence on me in collage. I miss them both.

Thoughts this Sunday Morning

A good morning in ABQ

 

 

Thursday we went to the Balloon Festival. It was special shapes day. The day was perfect, except that the wind was blowing higher up so the balloons did not take off. It meant for a lot longer time to just walk through them as they were inflated on the ground. Even so it was a perfect morning in a lot of ways.

 

 

Today was the opening day of Albuquerque's 42 annual International Balloon Festival.   There will be over 600 balloons at the festival this year.  The sky was very blue and the air was crisp.

We watched LDS Conference today and enjoyed just being home together.  The conference messages were good. I took some notes and particularly liked the comments of Elder Debe. He said: "In the service of the Lord it is not where we serve but how" and "The past should be lived with but not in" and "The spirit of the Lord is not what we have done or where we have been but where we are willing to go".

President Uchtdorf's messages were really good and I liked his comment "Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith"

Just Us

"We"........... went for a walk this morning.  Fall is in the air.  Last night I watched our 40 year video. Course it is 47 years + almost a month. Today we are not working in the Temple and we don't have anything in particular to do. That has a nice side to it. 

Kathy's blogs are a lot more interesting than mine. Course she has 800 + pictures on her I Phone and can't down load the new I Phone program until she figures out what to do with those pictures. On the other hand I suspect Riley shoots about 800 pictures every time she picks up a camera? Course these are all good things. I don't take a lot of pictures. I am planning on taking this post and sending it off to our family with Kathy's blog address on it in case everyone doesn't have it already. 

Somebody is inside

This sculpture reminds me of our life. I suppose we have something inside that we are trying to find. The  master artist is perhaps helping us. Back mid May 2008 a friend sent me this note.........................

Hi Brent,
All the best on Wednesday. 
I was thinking about you and it brought to mind the story of Ted Williams...
Coming up to bat on the last day of the season with a double header and a batting average of 399.6.
It would have rounded up to .400 and a lesser player would have asked to sit out.  Instead - Ted wanted to play.
As he came up the the plate for the first time - the umpire came out to sweep off the plate and said to him...
You can't hit .400 if you are not relaxed.
He went 5 for 8 that day to end the season with a batting average of .406.
He's the last player to ever hit .400.
Relax on Wednesday and be yourself and you'll get plenty of hits.
Best Regards,
John

It has been 5 + good years since that note. I made the job change that I wanted to. I may have revealed more of what is inside as life has gone on. So the question is, what's next?  I guess I have little choice but to relax and find out who is inside...............

 

 

 

KJ has to give a talk tomorrow about "Fathers" and she was able to pull up a talk she gave 20 years ago, also on fathers day. She likely will use a lot of the prior talk. When I re read it what stood out to me was her comments about her life growing up and her parents and what she valued that she learned from them. She remembered learning to drive in her fathers Studebaker.  Thinking back about about these type of cars I remember that there were ugly ones and then the one her dad drove was a good looking one.  We went out on a double date in one of the ugly ones. Probably our first date together?

 

 Talks are somewhat like good books. The good ones make you think of things you associate with the words. Good fathers is probably a worthy subject today. Both Kathy and I had very good fathers. They both loved their wife very much. That can make up for a lot. It sets a good example. Probably it is worth more than most other things. Time spent with a father is pretty special but who he treats his

wife may, in my opinion, have more of an impact on our lives later on.

 

What seems especially important as I ponder this is how different our life is when our all of our parents are passed on.  The memories change and continue to change. 

 

 Today I think of my father and I am reminded that he always seemed to be happy with his life. His happiness wasn't just a "positive attitude" type of thing. Not that a positive attitude is bad? I do think that it isn't really all that "good" if it is not deeply rooted. Some people seem to really be happy or positive and don't have to apply any rules to their outlook. My dad had a positive attitude in that he seemed to enjoy his life and it seemed to come from deep within. 

 

I can't help but think of my brother when I spend time thinking about my father. At least today that is the case. My brother seemed in some ways to really enjoy his life. He had some challenges but even so he reminded me of my dad in that I think he just enjoyed life. I know he loved his kids and family.  He seemed to always be willing to reach out to me. He was probably the one that needed reaching out to but then he would jump on a plane and come at the drop of a hat, if I asked him too. I wish I had asked more often.

 

I have wondered why my father was happy. So having said this here is some insight. Wondering about things like that is not a Rx for happiness. It can lead to being less than positive. I do think he really valued his family but in particular I think my dad always really felt he was luckily to have my mother for a companion. I saw that same thing in KJ's father, Hal. I have always felt that way about KJ but as I get older and see so many changes in what I had thought were things and relationships that defined me and now do not, I find that KJ is the core of my focus and I treasure that.

 

No Rage Just Light.........Song of Tonight

By Brent

 

Land and  Sky, reach out

Embraced by the Old, tonight
Touched from within, with Light
Our New World, like the Old
Gone from sight

 

Memories, sometimes dim

Free in the land, no need to hide
Dancing with wolves, and the light

A Fathers memories, and past Friends life
Friends eternal,  companion, wife
Life  so short, families right
Truth  eternal
Desire only.................to do right.

Back .........................

 

 

This particular metal buffalo has made this blog before.  The reason that it is worth posting today is that it represents a longer walk than I have taken in at least 10 months. It has been encouraging to get out for longer walks and even light runs. Since my challenges in January it has been much harder to "come back". I found along the trail a complete new house that had been built. The day was perfect. The air was perfect.

Nothing Much

 

Long weekend. That is a good thing. I am looking forward for Monday. I wondered what I might blog today?  Absolutely nothing comes to mind, of much importance. My short term plan is to go out and walk and perhaps run for a little. My longer term plan is to think about Monday. I am reading a new book about the autistic brain. It is a little complicated but still interesting. I also bought a book about digital cameras for beginners. It was kind of exciting to buy it and the book. The excitement was in the reality that both were about things I didn't know much about. Guess in a way there is always something new if you look. Where to look can be a challenge. The book is holding my interest. I am finished with the magazine. Finished with the blog for today. Absolutely

I am Back or pointed in a good direction or just happy to have had a good day

Today is a good day, so far. It started out with a  walk, Jog, almost run, on the front end. The sun was warm. The air was fresh. I started out walking and then started to jog. Almost ran a few times. I keep the pace up for a mile plus. This is not a big deal but it is the first time I have done this in almost a year. I didn't reach a "runners high" but I could almost feel it coming. I felt some sweat and it was just a wonderful experience. I am sitting her typing this two and half ours later and I don't really have any pains. I am back. Course I am not sure where I have been. It really has been so hard to get back. I don't want to not be able to jog and even run.

Mothers Day can cause you to look back..........................

since we had a wedding recently I had an occasion to look at the bride and groom on the recent wedding day by the cake, then one of Katie and another of "us" on our wedding days.  I have been blessed...........................

HB to MJ

Hope this picture actually posts this time.....................In thinking about Mike's birthday tommorrow I was drawn to this picture. It is just a great picture. Good Family

A special Weekend

A special weekend. Easter. Living in a State that has 25% of the population that is Catholic has some pluses.   New Mexico is the most culturally Catholic state, at least historically. One of the things I have noticed about our Catholic friends is that they pay special attention to Good Friday as well as Easter. It is a blessing to be around people who love the Lord.

As I thought about this subject I noticed the setting shown by my camera shot. Couple of good young men both with good young women in their lives. A very special lady presented by name on the sign and the focus of this weekend.





Our Church indeed holds sacred all the events of this week that took place in our Saviours life. Good Friday is not a day we have special services but it is an important day. The church is indeed central in our lives. As I look back at 66+ years I recall the first 20+ of those years where our church was lead by David O. McKay. Two quotes that came from him have been special ones for me.

• The purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.”
• The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

A School Bell......................Cherry Creek Idaho is a area that is 9 miles South of Malad, Idaho. The "area" consists only of old farms that have been their since the 1800's. My Grandparents home was in this area. Their house was on the East side of what was at one time the main highway to Utah from Southeastern Idaho. Across the road was their barns and some of the working core of their farm. Just to the South about a city block or so was a small one room school house. I recall when I grew up that the side of the building had fallen and that the inside was accessible. Going inside you could see the old benches. Upstairs in a loft was some of the very old school books. At some point someone took the school bell and somehow it was passed on to my Dad. The bell was something that each morning was rang by the teacher in charge to let the kids know they needed to come in. In the one room classes from 1st grade to high school were taught. The school was something my Dad went to for several years. He started school in about 1920.  The bell sits on one of my shelf's as seen in the post from two days ago. (The keys of the old typewriter mentioned are in the background)

Some History about the items on the last post..............I have posted a picture of the gun on the wall before and probably have posted some of the story behind it? Even so I might as well do so again and perhaps this time it will be a little different. I don't want to forget some of these things and hope to have the blogs printed up "one of these days". The gun is, as shown made by J.Stevens and was made in 1894. I found some similar guns on the Internet once. The gun is a 22 caliber single shot. My dad said it was sort of a family gun and that his older brothers and perhaps his day had used it over several years. He didn't say it was actually his personal gun but that he did use it. How the gun came to be in my home office is an interesting story. Sometime around 1970 I was working at Keeleys wholesale in Salt Lake. I was just out of collage and had been given the job as manager of this small company that had been bought by the company I worked my way through collage at. I had hired a cousin of mine that lived in Salt Lake to work on the night crew. He was a few years older than I was. I had not known him very well growing up but he needed a job and it helped him to get one at that time. My cousin, Michael Aylworth, and I probably had never had one on one time together growing up as he was several years older than me. One day he came to work and gave me this gun. It was his mother who had our grandmother live with them in her final years. That access probably enabled him to get the gun or maybe he got it from the farm in Malad over the years. He felt that the gun was my Dad's gun and felt that I should have it. I was surprised and never expected to have it happen. The gun has been in my office on my wall ever since.
*
Another incident is interesting in comparison. I have an old typewriter in my office that has been there since around the year 2000. It was my Mothers dad's typewriter. We saw him type on it as we grew up. Many letters were typed. Grandfather Warren was a writer and all the many grandkids would have identified him with that typewriter. In the case of this grandfather as well as my fathers dad I was not a grandson who was close to them. I was working for a large wholesaler in about 2000 and my cousin Jim Warren was out of work. I reached out to him and tried to help. I had the business look at him but was not able to hire him. Jim and I knew each other. We never spent a lot of time with each other growing up but that was something that I think we both would have liked to have not happened. Jim just brought me the typewriter one day saying he knew I was interested in writing and wanted me to have it.
*
Both events brought things to me that have been life long treasures.

 

 

Looking around the room ......................one question that comes to mind is why these specific things found their way to the top of the shelf?  The oldest thing is probably the gun on the wall. It was made in the 1890's. It was my dad's. The bell that might be hard to see in the middle top shelf probably was made before that and was used to announce class in a one room school house next to where my dad grew up. The picture of the Wagon with a pioneer woman on it is a replica of a mural that was painted on the entire front wall of the chapel that I went to church until I was about 14.  Most of the other items just were items that I thought might be interesting in terms of things picked up or noticed over the "journey" of a lot of years.  The sign that says "Success" is something KJ gave me just a few years ago. At first I didn't put it up. I thought at the time that it sort of reminded me of when I was much younger and I thought maybe even too much about "success". I always wanted to improve. Be better. Know more. Perfect myself. Achieve. Be thought of as having done all of those things. I tried at times to measure my progress. Those efforts had become part of the "journey" and were part of me. I wondered if I had just worked through some of the thoughts about Success so I didn't put the sign up. Then recently I was thinking about the sign in the closet and I thought it was really nice that after all these years that KJ went and got the sign for me. I figured that was enough of a reason to put it up. Then when I put it up I realized I still want to be better, to improve, to polish myself, and to become better for the journey................................................

 

 

us

Christmas Santa Fe. Us. It was cold. The trip was short. Odd that we didn't plan it out better with some good planners with us. Actually a little surprise that I can even get the picture to post, today.  Not much family around today. Good day to post a picture of them.