A Perfect Day

With such a large family, it becomes easy to become a slave to everyone else's schedule.  Even though I am still  dealing with my foot ulcer, my days are fulled with watching kids, housecleaning, and driving kids here or there.

For the last week, Martha has been in Utah attending a brainwashing seminar.  (Martha knows how intensely I dislike "self-help", and she knows that she can count on me to tease her about it.)  She has left the kids at grandma's house, and Temple has grumbled all week about how nice it would be to take a vacation.  Temple has recently taken a new position (maintenance) at the school where she works, and it requires more hours.  She has been coming home, tired and exhausted.

It seems as if our weekends become - not a time of enjoyment - but a time to catch up with our chores.  For instance, Temple and I went into town on Saturday and did laundry.  I knew that Sunday was just going to be another day of work and/ or Sunday services, just like it always is.

I woke up at 5AM yesterday.  I usually get up early, and, when Temple is not working, my self-appointed job is to keep the kids out of the room so that she can sleep.  I got up just before the sun rose.  I had been having problems all night with the wound vac all night.  I was not getting enough pressure on the wound for accurate treatment, and had spent some time on the phone with a manufacturer's tech last night.  I could run the risk of infection if I kept it on my foot at a low pressure.  So I pulled it off of my foot, cleaned and bandaged the wound.  The nurse is coming on Monday anyway.

The sun rose, and I watched it through the living room window.  I was struck by its beauty, and - even though I am going through some serious problems in life - I gave thanks to God for my many blessings.  Life is so temporary, and so is the time we get to let our families knows that we love them.

I was suddenly struck with an urge, and so I went into the bedroom where Temple was sleeping.  I kissed her and whispered in her ear as she slept, "Why don't we take a road trip somewhere?  Just you, me and the kids.  Let's just get in the car and go somewhere instead of worrying about chores or Sunday School."

She barely stirred, and so I kissed her and told her to go back to sleep.

However, five minutes later, she was up and getting ready.  While the kids got ready, she made us homemade Egg McMuffins, which are twenty times more palatable than the restaurant version.  The kids were excited.  We looked on the internet to pick several locations nearby, all of them in New Mexico.  We talked about the Very Large Array (155 miles away), the Catwalks (135 miles away), or El Morro National Monument (102 miles away).  We picked El Morro.

So Temple, our three boys and I got in the car and were on our way.  We stopped at the Circle K in Saint Johns for drinks.  I got a fountain drink.  I put in every booster they have plus lemon and vanilla.  I took a sip and gagged.  Temple laughed at me.  I'm glad I can still make her laugh.

It was a hot, dry day as we drove across the desert.  Temple drove, because I still have the wound on my foot.  Right at the Arizona/ New Mexico border, Temple hit a pothole.  I didn't see it, because I was reading.  The car bounced so hard that moulding came loose, and a cloud of dust filled the car.  It startled us, but we laughed about it.

We drove through Zuni Pueblo, with its red rocks.  I pointed out the clay ovens outside of every house.  I have always wondered what they use them for.

We arrived at El Morro, with it's enormous, white and pink stone bluff.  I can't believe that in 13 years of marriage, I have never brought Temple here.  As we walked on the trail towards the bluff, I told the kids that we would be climbing the bluff.  Our 3 year-old Avery was worried about climbing up it.  He looked up the sheer face of the cliff and said, "I am scared, but my arms are strong."

Actually, they have cut steps into the cliff face, so - although tiring - it is quite easy.  The kids loved it.  El Morro is like a natural fortress.  Atop the cliffs are several Anasazi dwellings and kivas.  The trail winds along the rocks of the cliffs, and the view is spectacular.  Then it switchbacks down the mountain.  My legs felt like spaghetti coming down.

At the bottom, on the cliff face, travelers for centuries have carved inscriptions on the rocks - from Native American petroglyphs to elaborate script from Spanish explorers to writings from pioneers on their way to California.  It was an enjoyable way to wind down from the hike to look at these writings.

Exhausted, we made the drive back home in Arizona, where I picked up all of my kids from their grandmother's house.  We went home, and Temple made tacos for dinner for everyone.  As she prepared dinner, the kids were excited as they prepared for the upcoming eclipse.  Some of them had obtained special glasses from school.  I  tried to age old remedy of smoked glass.  It didn't work out too well.  We found an old welder's mask.  Each in turn was able to watch the the eclipse as it happened.

My daughter Sophie is graduating from high school this week.  (I feel old!)  We went to her baccalaureate.  Sophie is not especially religious, and so she made a token appearance.  So did we.  Mainly we went to see my son Christian sing in the choir.  Then we left early.  I don't want to sit through a long meeting, listening to all our town's preachers, either.

It was night when we got home, and Temple razzed me that I was going to bed, saying that I never let her sleep when she is tired.  It was, however, a perfect day.  Not because of going to different places, but because I was with the people I love.