On reading

I've been thinking a lot about reading since I read my sister-in-law, Nicole's, post the other day. I used to love reading. I would read two or three books at a time. I remember it taking forever for me to clean up my room, because I would find a book and start reading. When I worked for the SWATC, the Adult High, and the SWEA setting up their library, it took a lot longer than it should because I read a lot of the books as I entered them into the system. The picture below would have been heaven for me, especially if I owned them all.
However, my collection is not nearly that expansive. I loved books, I lived in books. People looked at me funny when I said I liked the feel and smell of books. Aunt Sandra used to comment about me reading every time we went to visit. I can't say that I read that widely, after all, Orderville is slightly limited in the literary sense, but I did the best I could with what I had. Thank goodness for the Bookmobile.

Then I met James and he put reading into a whole new perspective for me. He used to tease me about reading drivel (i.e., fiction). I of course, would get a little defensive, how could he tease me about something I loved so much? Then he explained. His vision, which most of you know, is limited and on top of that he is dyslexic. Doctors were amazed when he started reading again after his surgery. It would have been interesting, because of the vision loss he experienced double vision as his eyes adjusted. Try to imagine only seeing have a page, but seeing it double. Reading would be a challenge. Because of his experiences and limitations, he feels he doesn't have the time to waste reading drivel, but would rather spend the time reading other books (since I've met him he's read the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, a large portion of Mormon Doctrine, several books by Hugh Nibley, and he's working on Joseph Smith Papyri (which is not a book for the faint of heart), another book by Hugh Nibley, and many more. Needless to say, by spending his time reading such books, instead of fictions books, which are mostly entertaining, he has forced me to reexamine my love of reading.

Don't get me wrong, lessons can be learned from fiction works, but I wonder if I spent too much time learning from fiction and not enough time reading, well, more educational books. While I can't go back and change the past, and I'm not sure that I would, what will I change in the future with my new found perspective? Right now, I don't even have the time to worry about it. Me, who used to be in the middle of three or four books can't even remember what book I read last. I don't have any books planned, except for textbooks and the like. Am I sad about that? At one time I would have been absolutely devastated, but strangely, I'm not. The days where I read like that were fun, but the time has come for me to think of other things, with occasional dabblings into the realm of drivel. ;)

Change in plans

While this is related to family in that it deals with our future, James and I have discussed and determined a change of plans in relation to my academic pursuits once James has finished his PhD. Instead of becoming an accountant, I will be focusing my pursuits on becoming a lawyer. I was thinking the other day about why I wanted to be an accountant, is it because I love numbers? Am I passionate about accounting or about the detailed processes and procedures and the amount of technicalities which are inherent in accounting. I believe it is the latter, in which case I will love being a lawyer, from the informational point of view.
Once James is finished, during the process of getting him finished I'll start studying for the LSAT, I intend to pursue my JD, and possibly my JSD (why stop before you reach the top?). I know some of you have concerns, but James and I have worked it out and we feel it is the course for us to pursue, accounting was a good idea, but it just didn't have the right feel. Right now, as a result of precursory study, we have decided that Washington University in St. Louis will be my top pick, it is the best in the Midwest and in the top 10 or 20, depending on which ranking you look at. I know Mom, it is further away, but it would only be for 3 or 4 years, and we are still a ways from it. I haven't decided what specialties I would look into, but with a law degree from one of the top law schools, we are pretty confident that we could go just about anywhere and I would be able to get a job. James is planning on teaching online classes, so he would be home with the kids, and after a few years of experience, there wouldn't be much stopping me from being self-employed. We still have research and prep to do, but at last we feel like we have the right path ahead of us.

On traveling

This last weekend we went to Missouri to visit Andrew and Clarice. The above picture is from our visit to Indiana, but it works with some of the thoughts I had as I contemplated out trip. There are different types of travelers, pleasure travelers, career travelers, and quick travelers are some that I could think of. I think the easiest to explain are the career travelers, truck drivers, business people who travel frequently. In essence, a career traveler is someone who travels frequently, often over long distances, and it becomes a way of life or second nature (no, I'm not quoting a dictionary). The pleasure travelers are traveling for fun, they stop frequently to take in the sites, sit down to eat, and take the trip easy. Then there are the quick travelers, they drive straight through, eat while driving, stop only when necessary, and want to get started so they can get it over and done with. While I am married to a quick traveler, I still hold out hope for being able to be a pleasure traveler someday, just to see what it feels like.

Separation

I'm struck right now with a new realization about change. Not only is it a constant in our lives, it occurs sometimes in areas where we would least like it. I look back at the relationships I've had with family and friends, and yes, they too, are subject to change. Gone are the days of youthful promises about an unknown future. The future has a way of changing those promises. I applaud those who have kept them and I weep with those who lost them. Not all change is bad, but often we long for the things we had, like prior relationships where we received a great value. Perhaps our longing is because we know it will never be the same, yet our need or our desire for the value remains. Some relationships get better, compensating somewhat for those which bring sad thoughts of loss. Who can say which relationships will weather the storms of change. Is the best friend, I'll never leave you, I'll always be there for you? Or is it the more casual acquaintance with deepens with time? Are there some relationships which have a better chance of lasting? Who knows. All I can say, when I think about some of the relationships in my life which have changed in a disappointing way, is oh well, that happens, and I move on. Some of the relationships will lie in the dust until they blow away, some will continue in a different form, and some will bloom and grow forever.

Genealogy

The following is a poem that Grandma Esplin gave me in my Book of Remembrance years ago.

Facts or Fancy

Woe is me, such misery and pain
For 200 years my hopes were in vain,
Until one of my kin just happened to hear
Of the Gospel restored, and the truth was quite clear.
"You must save your dead to have Eternal Life,"
But finding the right ones has caused toil and strife.
I've been taught here in heaven and I, too, see the light,
If only my kin folk would seal things up right.

Marie Brawn is the name to which I was born,
But the name, Mary Brown, by records adorn.
I've wept and I've wailed and gnashed all my teeth
In vain to inform those off-spring beneath,
To be sealed to my man has long been by dream,
But they've joined me to one I've not even seen.

Six children I bore with both joy and tears,
And waited with longing for them through the years.
But sadly to say there have only been three
That those relatives yet have had sealed to me.
To make matters worse, they discovered four others
And blandly porclaimed that I was their mother.
Now if that's not enought to in patience withstand,
They say I'm 50 years older than I really am.

So I earnestly beg and implore and beseech,
To stress accurate care with the people you teach,
In recording the names the dates and the places,
For fear of adjoining wrong names and wrong faces.
Genealogy work that is not rightly spelled
May consign "Old Joe" to a place that's -- oh well,
Just remember to copy each record with care;
Get your facts straight and always beware
Of errors in time and above all in name.
For another man's wife is never the same
As the one whose tongue is sharpened on you,
So be sure that your temple records are true.

By Evelyn Meadows and Carma Lowe