SPT: Do you have eyes in the back of your head?

As I checked to see what the subject of SPT was this week, I was wishing amidst the chaos this morning, that I had thought to grab my camera to capture one of those many moments of things that go on when you're not looking ... things you only seem to capture with the eyes in the back of your head. Instead, you will just have to suffice with some old photos of some special people who just melted my heart this morning...

Ishee is still not feeling her total self. She woke this morning feeling fine, but tired as all get out, even though she'd slept soundly for almost 12 hours. Her morning turned sour when she had to do things like... move... and get her shoes on and comb her hair, you know, the usual.

At 7:20, she had her shoes on and she was doing her song and dance whine about having to get her coat on when all she really wanted to do was lay down on the floor for just a few more minutes. PLEASE MOM? Just one more minute. Sorry sis, the bus will be here any minute. And by any minute, her brother announced, she means, it's HERE. Oh, why oh why does the bus driver have to be early today of all days?

Insert crocodile tears of mass proportions here.

(this photo is simply an example of a very common occurrence around here... Ishee refusing to cooperate? NO! Really?)

"I don't wanna go to school! I will miss you too much!" She grabbed my leg and clung for dear life. The middle child darted out the door like a bolt of lightning and ran for the bus, not stopping to even care who was or wasn't coming with her. The boy... stood there. "Come on, sis, it's okay, I'll wait for you."

"I need a kiss. Just one more kiss. I need one on my forehead, too. Can I kiss your forehead, mommy? Oh, I need a hug. I need a bigger hug. Oh, just one more kiss. Do I look like I've been crying?" she asks with those ginormous tears still running down her cheeks. Nope, you look just perfect. I wiped away her tears, patted her on the bum and tossed her out the door.

Then the 14 year old "too cool for you" teenage brother, took his seven year old sobbing baby sister by the hand, and together they walked (or jogged, rather) the 80 yards down the driveway to the awaiting bus, knowing full well he had a bus load of friends watching and critiquing his every move.

A picture just wouldn't be able to capture spirit of the moment anyway...

Speaking of the boy and his compassionate ways...

Last night, he brought home a stack of papers an inch thick with 6 photo shopped $1 bills photocopied on to each sheet to be used for a social studies class project. Somehow, he got suckered into cutting all 600 of these $1 bills out... in one evening. Because of the layout of the page, you couldn't just use a paper cutter and call it good (someone put some serious thought into that one...), they had to be cut out one at a time with scissors. He and the middle child spent the next four hours cutting them out, while the rest of us watched and/or found better things to do... because we suck.

When he finished, his sister looked at him and said "You owe me big time for this one!" He looked at her and said "you have already been paid with the experience of a lifetime. Don't you feel honored?" Not exactly what she was thinking....

This was after the conversation they had that went like this:

The boy: Where do you want to go on your mission?
The girl: You want to go on a mission? (you'd have to understand us to really "get" that one)
The boy: Sure! Why not? In fact, I want to go to Scotland.
The girl: Why? So you can be Irish? (ROFL!)
The boy: No, because they have the best golf courses!

Okay, so he's not ALL good...

Don't get me wrong, those two have had their moments. Four years ago, she came home from school with bloody fingerprints on her cheeks after he had wiped away her tears she acquired when she split her head open at school (which required four staples... I'll spare you THAT photo). Aren't all big brothers this compassionate at times?

Oh, the things that go on when we're not looking ... it's just too bad those "eyes" in the back of our heads don't have a real built in camera... just lasting memories.

Good times! Good times!

Oh, the distance you will go...

Several years ago, not too long after the Bountiful Temple was dedicated, my sisters and I ventured several hours south to my another sisters house for a sister getaway. One of the things we planned to do while there was attend a session in the Bountiful Temple. What a beautiful temple that was! As we were getting ready to leave the dressing room to return back to my sisters home, we, someone, I don't remember how it happened, turned and there at the counter folding her temple clothes was our oldest and dearest family friend who still lives right down the street from us. What a coincidence it was that her and her husband would decide to stop and take in a session on the way home from visiting family themselves. Oh, the distance you will go to see your old friends.



A few years later, my husband and I had taken our kids to Salt Lake to the zoo. We were just wandering around and out of nowhere appeared a member of our bishopric with his family. Oh, the distance you will go to see your neighbors!



Last year, while we were in Hawaii, we visited the temple grounds in Laie. Oh, what a gorgeous temple that was! As we were preparing to leave, we stopped to visit with the sister missionaries, who promptly asked us where we were visiting from. We told her and what a shock it was to hear that not only was she from our same little town, she lives less than a mile away, her little sisters are some of my niece K's very good friends, AND her aunt happened to be my youngest daughters student aide! Oh, the distance you will go to see neighbors you didn't even know you had!



Last week, while my husband was in San Francisco, a group of them went out to dinner at a "fu fu" French restaurant. He walked in, sat down, and glanced around the room and thought, I know those people! It was one of his home teaching families! So he wandered over and said hello and visited for a moment. Oh, the distance you will go to do your home teaching.



I'm sure there have been other occasions where we have had the privilege of stumbling upon folks from back home while in our travels. Have you ever gone anywhere and happened upon friends, family, and neighbors from back home?