I Battled a Cup of Milk Before Church This Morning

Let me just cut to the chase and tell you: I lost.


How?

I tipped it off the top shelf of the frigidaire in my haste to obtain cinnamon rolls.

It instantly whitewashed every shelf below it,

plunged into everything within six inches of each shelf's edge,

(including a still liquid, raspberry-blue jello)

created a four foot fan out across the kitchen floor,

and spat on me

from the tips of my hair,

all the way

d
o
w
n

to

my shoe-covered toes.



I did not get to singles ward for sacrament.
Why?
Because that is 20 minutes away
and my home ward is only 2 minutes.
Cleaning up the milk's aftermath ate too many minutes.

I lost to the milk, but I still managed to shove a cinnamon roll into my newly outfitted self.

Not a complete defeat : )


p.s. milky jello is not such a bad thing. Especially when you put whipped cream on top.


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My Brother is a Piano Playing Genius




If you don't know by now, my brother is 16. His name is Derek.

And he is a piano playing genius.

Today he was supposed to play a hymnal medley in sacrament.

He forgot until last night when my mother reminded him.

I went to bed listening to him playing through possibilities.

Today we are sitting in church and they announce the next few items on the program.

A speaker, and then a musical number by Derek.

I look over at him, smiling,

I was about to ask him what the hymns were going to be when he picks up a hymnal and says

'now I need to pick out what I'm playing'

I know he is not joking.
It shouldn't have, but my jaw dropped open a little bit.

I've seen him do this many times.
Forget or procrastinate planning for something he's been asked to do,
and then finding himself needing to pull something musical and amazing out of thin air.

Within 5 minutes he had found a blue piece of paper,
and a pencil,
and written down the names of four songs,
in the order he would play them in.

Some of them not hymns, but songs from animated church movies.

In which case he just wrote the name of the movie it played in.

10 minutes later the speaker sat down,

Derek got up,

placed his blue sheet on the pianos' music stand,

and played a truly beautiful and amazing medley that brought the spirit strongly into the room, and hearts of the congregation.

I didn't know whether to cry,
or laugh in amazement at what he was pulling off with such brilliant success.

I can't wait to read all of the similar stories I know he will write home while he's on his mission, where coming up with talks and musical numbers on the spot is a common occurrence : )




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After Church (and then choir) I Set Sail in my Jeep



I was homeward bound and plunging home under the yellowing leaves of fall.

I sped up a bit to the crescendoing notes of Mozart's 22nd Piano Concerto,

carving beautifully around a corner,

and past a yawning mexican on a park bench.

I laughed at the classical station man who rants reverently about all music classic.

Happy because:

I got to hear him verbally idolize mozart.

I talked to and met more people at church,

I found out Lemon's middle name is STEWART,

I sang in choir,

and I knew I was bounding home to family and pot roast : )