Last week I went home and it was different. Perhaps the best way to sum it up is this: on my first night back I told my dad I was going to the store {
kroger, obviously}, got
gigi out of the garage, put the top and windows down and was off. Wind blowing, music blaring, crisp air with that specific 40326 scent {trust me, there is a special, more awesome than anywhere else in the world scent to the air there} surrounding me and...
ROAD CLOSED?
What?!!? That road isn't closed, it can't be closed. That's how you get to the store, obviously they can't close that road. And had they closed the road, surely there would have been some warning before it was the narrow road, a Road Closed sign, and gigi and I staring said sign down. Unfortunately, this was one staring contest {or game of chicken, interpret as you like} gigi and I lost, so I turned around and went tootling back the way from whence I came. And then a thought crossed my mind: wait, how AM I going to get to kroger now? As I called my dad for directions {yes, in 43026, I, JAR, had to call and ask for directions. to kroger. so embarrassing!} the path I would need to take would become clear {good thing Gabi drove me on it on the way home from the airport or I would have been completely befuddled!}. Daddio and I laughed about my misdirection and then I undertook the 4 roundabout road. That's right, you read that correctly: this road, in the middle of 43026 has 4 roundabouts in it. In a row. Anyways, I eventually made it to kroger and then on the way home, something magical happened...
I was driving home at exactly that special moment of the fireflies, when day turns to night and they take over the fields of soybeans and corn and transform them into mystical spaces full of teeny tiny individual "glows." Takes my breath away every time.
Some things change, but some things, like the scent of the breeze and the glow of the fireflies stay the same
Two weeks ago a family moved into our branch and brought with them a little girl. She is super cute and has increased my class size by a third. She likes to twirl and wiggle and giggle as most 3 year olds do and seems to thoroughly enjoy my wiggle and giggle heavy primary class, which I love ;) Then, at the end of class, she volunteered to say the closing prayer. I offered to help her {we do a lot of helping in my class: prayers, scriptures, songs}, at which point she gave me as haughty a look as a 3 year old can give and informed me that she can say prayers on her own. At which point, she folded her arms, bowed her little sweet head, and bulleted into a 30 second prayer that cannot be summed up in words and was a crazy fast list of what she is thankful for: "thank you for my mommy, thank you for my daddy, thank you for the church, thank you for my house, thank you for the birds, thank you for the trees, thank you for my teacher, thank you for my teacher being pretty, thank you for the..." I love a child who thanks her Heavenly Father for all of those things, who found me worthy of inclusion to her list, and who even added a shout-out that I am pretty. Such simple, loving, generous gratitude.
She is a wonderful addition to my dynamic duo and now we have a terrific trio of a primary! My primary children are so sweet and kind and unique and teach me so much about myself and life every week; it's amazing how much wisdom and knowledge those little buggers have!
