The Up and The Down

Sunday was a fantastic day - mostly. Sacrament meeting was one of those rarish occasions when the spirit is overwhelming and tears come easily. There's no telling why. Preparation I suppose. But, most Sundays the preparation feels about the same. It's just sometimes, prayers are better or thoughts are better or something, and the Spirit is really strong. Today was one of those days and I don't know why. I got up early to pack for my trip to Arizona and Utah, since I had to leave during sacrament meeting to get to the airport on time. That's not exactly a spiritual experience. I would prefer not to travel on Sunday, but then I'd miss everything that went on yesterday (Saturday) and be gone from my family for an extra day. My mind was on Tom Edmonds, hoping that he would still be around when I got back from Utah so I could visit him again. The events at the temple the previous day were still on my mind and were tender indeed. It was ward conference, maybe there were memories of ward conferences when I was bishop. Or, maybe it was because before the meeting started I was able to talk with Cassandra Shaffer to make sure everything was alright from out "discussion" the night before where I think she was upset. In any case, it was sweet, and renewing, and uplifting. Unfortunately, I had to leave before President Rehm spoke.

Jeanne took me over to the York shop where I met Kirk. We drove down to Baltimore to catch a Southwest flight to Tucson, Arizona. The flight was uneventful. It seemed long. We stopped in Albuquerque, N.M. and then traveled on to Tucson. There was a nice woman sitting across the isle with her two children. She was pregnant with her third. She was an RN so we talked a little about kids and nursing. Kirk and I watched "A Bridge to Tarabithia." Both of us cried. So far, so good. Then when we got to Tucson, there was no information on our rental car form how to arrange to be picked up by the shuttle. We waited for a long time and called the 866 number provided only to be left on hold for 10 minutes, and I found myself getting upset. That kind of ruined the spirit of the day. I suppose that's one reason to avoid traveling on Sunday. But we got to the hotel and got some sleep and all in all, it was a great day.