Once upon a time there was a handsome hardworking man and his cute, nice wife who celebrated their 200th (month) wedding anniversary! It was 1993--the same year the Salt Lake Temple was celebrating its Centennial and just a couple years before the Bountiful Temple was completed and dedicated.
But not everything was cause for celebration during those years. One day it snowed all day long which was very fun for those who got to miss school. It may have been fun for the fine father to miss work, too, except that he had to take turns with his young son shoveling snow every single hour! The hardworking father also felt like an under-appreciated employee of the bank, but he was truly loved by his nice wife when he completely painted the whole upstairs of their home sweet home.
One teenage daughter, Emily was excited to get her first real job before she even turned 16 years old--at Atlantis Burgers . . . but she still had to argue with her kind and loving parents that she was "not dating" Jeremy also before she even turned 16 years old. Later she got a better job at Lynn's Flavor Magic and started attracting the attention of many more boys. Wait a minute--is that better?
While all that was going on, another teenage daughter, Shelly was getting rich from babysitting. Her highlight of 1993 was wearing a bright purple cast for six weeks as the fractured growth plate in her left hand healed after a little flag football accident in gym class. Later she also got a better job at Leatherby's Ice Cream Parlor and she got her driver's license!
What followed was not a time for celebration for the hardworking getting-older-by-the-minute father and his worried wife. For the first few years of teenage drivers in the family, one fender bender after another kept happening including one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when both sisters were in a car accident that totaled the family's red van. Fortunately, both girls and their friends in the car were not hurt as much. One sister got a gash on her face requiring stitches, but it healed and also helped pay for college . . . and the other sister had no visible injuries but a mortal fear of mini vans for a very long time.
Meanwhile another sister Betsy got 11 stitches on her 11th birthday after an unsuccessful trick dive into the East Canyon swimming pool! She also recovered and became a straight-A student who played the violin in sixth grade and then switched to the flute in Jr. High. However, she also felt her goodness was unappreciated and became extremely vocal about how unfair her life was as a middle child.
Her younger brother, Tom had no worries
and was perfectly happy collecting basketball cards, building with legos, reading comic books, watching games--even shoveling snow (especially off the basketball court). Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as happy about getting stitches in the emergency room after a collision with the piano one Christmas Eve.
And the little sister of the family, Hayley got tired of begging her Mom for piano lessons and taught herself how to play five Christmas songs. Plus after only 3 1/2 years of preschool with the same ole boring teacher (Mom again), she finally got to start kindergarten!
But . . . whether it was good days . . . bad days . . . snowy days . . . or ordinary days . . . this fine little family just kept living happily ever after!
Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma
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