This post may really only make sense to my parents and sibblings, well and GR of course, since he took the pictures. So please allow me to indulge a bit in remembering.
The images are scans of damaged 35 mm film taken, I think, during the fall of 1996, it could possibly be the fall of 1997. The film was scanned back when I was working, so 7 years or so ago. I'm sure scanners today could do a better job of "restoring" the images if I knew where the film was...
They are pictures of me and my little brother Sam (for whom my Sam is named) ... GR and I were visiting my parents for the weekend. Sam had gotten the 68' Chevelle running and took me for a drive on my parents street. He drove me around the two cul-de-sacs and then turned the wheel over to me and I drove the beast home. It's the only time I driven the Chevelle, and I'm glad I got to experience it with Sam.
Now, I wish I could remember more about the experience. If it were not for the pictures, I'm not sure I would remember it at all. What I love about these pictures is the barely noticeable expressions on Sam's face ... the proud confidence of taking his big sister on a drive in a car he'd worked really hard on cleaning up and getting moving ... then the reversal of rolls, as for a few minutes, he became my big brother, opening the big heavy pea green doors of Chevelle and telling me to switch places with him. Giving me the encouragement and the confidence to drive us home, as if he were the 21 year old and I was the 16 year old on my first drive around the block.
Tonight marks 11 years since Cam and Sam's accident ... the accident Heavenly Father used to instantly call Sam home. While the rawness of this weekend in 1998 has healed, pictures like these, or those my Dad recently reclaimed from their scouting days, or talking about Sam around the dinner table this past Christmas, remind me how much I miss him, and how hard I want to work to be with him again.
[** I uploaded the pictures so you can click on them and see them in their larger format ... given the poor quality of the film and the motion blur it might better help you tell when Sam is driving and when I am driving. I'd forogtten the massive perportion difference between his frame and mine ... and yet I could still lift him off his feet when needed! **]
Remember this shining face? If you're old school university ward - and a handful of you are - you already know Kim. If you're not, many, many, many moons ago we were in town friends ... but marriage, school, babies, and a bunch of moves have made us long distance, via the internet - okay we can be honest here - via our blogs friends. [Mom, Kim's the one who taught Rebecca most of her American Sign Language words as a toddler.]
She's needing a little help from her friends, and her friends, friends, so I hope you'll oblige. Have you heard of BlogHer? It's a conference of women bloggers (who mainly use their blogs as a business venture) and this summer marks it's 5th year. Kim is a finalist in a contest to send her to this summers conference in Chicago, expenses paid! The only way she'll make it there is if she gets the most votes on this poll which ends on the 23rd of February. So if you wouldn't mind checking out her blog, and giving her a shout out on the poll (she's the second one listed), I'd appreciate it and I know this awesome mama would too!
At the beginning of the year I was released from teaching primary and given a new calling at church ... I am now the ward communication specialist. As part of my calling I prepare the Sunday bulletin and maintain the ward website.
While archaic and at times extremely frustrating, the ward website (housed within www.lds.org) does have a couple cool functions. One of those functions is the ability to send an email broadcast to all registered members with a valid email address listed.
Since external member email lists are a no-no, we are now sending our weekly ward email via the ward website and today - today - is the very first time all year that:
1. The email sent the very first time without failing - more than once I've had to submit the weekly announcement recap email three times before it would actually send.
2. I finally figured out how to keep all my - " and ' from turning into ? and other weird characters.
3. [and this is the big one] I didn't call the technical support line to talk with Rachel or Lizzie for help with a problem!
Since the first of the year, I've been a sub in primary twice, helped teach a lesson to the young women, taught relief society on this conference talk, and finally today, spoke in church.
I really hope this means I'm done for a little while.
Me preparing to speak or teach is not a pretty experience. While I love the studying part of preparing to speak or teach, collecting my thoughts, and organizing them into something with an introduction, main points and conclusion, with personal experiences, analogies, scriptures, and original material mixed with quotes from prophets ... is in GR's words, painful to watch. The entire house comes to a screeching halt while mom is glued to the computer pouring over conference talks and Ensign articles, trying to decide what exactly she's suppose to share with a room full of people who are so much more qualified to speak on any topic than she is.
I must have followed the Spirit correctly on Sunday and shared what I was suppose to, because in all my years of speaking in church, I can't remember ever having more than two or three people tell me they appreciated my talk, and this time I did.
My topic was the topic for Primary on Sunday as well, "The priesthood blesses my family." We talk a lot about the blessings of the priesthood in the church, but not so much on how it directly blesses the family, so I found preparing for this talk very interesting as it pertains to our family.
I'll share two points from my talk ...
First ... "... the most important exercise of the priesthood takes place in the family. [We have been taught that] each husband and father in the Church should strive to be worthy to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. With his wife as an equal partner, he presides in righteousness and love, serving as the family's spiritual leader. He leads the family in regular prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. He works with his wife to teach the children and help them prepare to receive the ordinances of salvation (see D&C 68:25–28). He gives priesthood blessings for direction, healing, and comfort.(True to the Faith)" ...
"Elder Merrill J. Bateman, in a conference talk a few years ago stated, “It is expected that worthy holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood will use the power delegated to them to bless others, starting with their own families. One of the great inheritances of the Restoration is that a father ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood has the right to bless his wife and children when prompted and when a blessing is desired by them.”
Second ... "One of the lessons I will take from preparing this talk is that my husband and I need to do a better job of providing opportunities for our children to receive priesthood blessing from their father. To see, beyond the influence of having a righteous loving priesthood holder lead our family in family prayer and family home evening and scripture study. Over the years, they have watched him, after hanging up the phone, stop what he is doing, put on a white shirt and tie, double check his consecrated oil, and quietly walk out the door to assist in giving a blessing many times, but have rarely witnessed it in our own home."
The images are scans of damaged 35 mm film taken, I think, during the fall of 1996, it could possibly be the fall of 1997. The film was scanned back when I was working, so 7 years or so ago. I'm sure scanners today could do a better job of "restoring" the images if I knew where the film was...
Now, I wish I could remember more about the experience. If it were not for the pictures, I'm not sure I would remember it at all. What I love about these pictures is the barely noticeable expressions on Sam's face ... the proud confidence of taking his big sister on a drive in a car he'd worked really hard on cleaning up and getting moving ... then the reversal of rolls, as for a few minutes, he became my big brother, opening the big heavy pea green doors of Chevelle and telling me to switch places with him. Giving me the encouragement and the confidence to drive us home, as if he were the 21 year old and I was the 16 year old on my first drive around the block.
Tonight marks 11 years since Cam and Sam's accident ... the accident Heavenly Father used to instantly call Sam home. While the rawness of this weekend in 1998 has healed, pictures like these, or those my Dad recently reclaimed from their scouting days, or talking about Sam around the dinner table this past Christmas, remind me how much I miss him, and how hard I want to work to be with him again.