Boo Y U

If I was rating colleges on their customer service skills and willingness to help their students succeed, graduate and then VACATE THE PREMISES in a timely manner (i.e. less than 5 years), I would have to give BYU a big, tall, spindly F. No, an F does not give it enough weight. How about an F++++++++ (cue Ralphie's dream sequence from A Christmas Story, only in reverse). Come on, BYU, give my girl a break. Especially on her birthday. She just wants to get in and get out and allow another paying customer to take her place. You, powers that be at the Y, should be bending--OVER BACKWARDS--to help her on her way out the door. Badly done, BYU...badly done!

Knowledge

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NEW KNOWLEDGE!

We have had our Mac for about 4 months now, which we purchased along with a One to One subscription. It's taken me this long to figure out how to even make the appointment online with the Apple store. On the day of my appointment, I wrote down a list of all the little things I couldn't figure out how to do (such as: how do I throw away a stack of 459 photo's that I inadvertently saved to my desktop without having to trash them one at a time? How do I find the icon for my scanner? How to I unblock cookies so that I can actually sign out of my hotmail account?) It's scary how technologically crippled I am. But not any more! I met with the very nice Nicole, who enthusiastically and very patiently walked me through all the different computer functions that would help me perform all the tasks on my list that have baffled me thus far. That stack of photos was gone with a quick selection box and drag to the virtual trash can. Poof! I learned all about the smiley faced finder box in the bottom left hand corner of my monitor. I reset my Safari browser. I learned how to get all of my pictures and music that are currently living on any three of our Macs and put them onto one computer, using Photo Share and Home Sharing. Life is exciting and good and I love my Macs. I think I am ready to move on to learning about movie- and book making.

In another arena, Madi and I started our CNA class this week at Lakeview Hospital. We thought it would be fun to train together. Madi wants to test the waters of the medical field and she thought that this would be a good place to start. I just wanted to see if I could still learn anything. Plus, it's a little scary for me to try something so far out of my comfort zone. I know that this will be good for me. I am such a creature of habit and comfort, that I really have to force myself to experience new things and allow growth. Also, my children (okay, Steve also) are convinced that I have no sympathy when it comes to taking care of the sick and afflicted. Obviously this is a deficiency in my character that could benefit from correction. As we were discussing the various duties of CNA's and opportunities for service, I kept feeling strongly about Hospice care. I am surrounded by many wonderful elderly men and women that I would love to serve and help bring comfort to in their last years. I might even be able to finally give my family some sympathy when they are sick!

A Study

I read the following out loud to Steve, but had to stop because we were laughing so hard:

(From The Deseret News, Saturday, March 19, 2011)

"Scientific studies have found that having children does not increase happiness. In fact, experts say it has the opposite effect. The more children you have, the less happy you are.

Children restrict freedom. Children require sacrifice. Children require work.

As Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University wrote in Time magazine, 'Studies reveal that most married couples start out happy and then become progressively less satisfied over the course of their lives, becoming especially disconsolate when their children are in diapers and in adolescence, and returning to their initial levels of happiness only after their children have had the decency to GROW UP AND GO AWAY.'" (caps added)

Okay, Steve and I have finished wiping the tears from our eyes by now. This article could not have come at a more appropriate (inappropriate?) time. We are smack in the middle of the adolescence of our last two children, with our oldest two in the beginning steps of independent living and the "grow up and go away" phase--which, by the way, brings with it a whole new set of joys, worries and potential sorrows. So, why do we have children? Why, why, why? We have children, as Timothy Dalrymple wrote in a blog post on Patheos.com, because "love overflows, they make us human, and they teach us to love."

Timothy Dalrymple: "Marriage teaches people how selfish they are. Children require selflessness on an even deeper level. The pure form of love is selfless love. Children are an instrument in the hand of God to teach us selflessness. Happiness is a cheap substitute for the full richness and dynamism of the human experience found in loving relationships."

I will try to remember that when one of my children ineviably does something that will drive both Steve and I to ask ourselves, "Why, why, WHY?"

At which point, hopefully, I will recall with great fondness how fun it is to watch them play a sport or an instrument, laugh out loud together at a theatrical play, try on clothes while squished in the same dressing room, try a new restaurant, watch a movie together late at night, or call for a quick visit and advice on dating, decorating, meals, etc., and--more importantly--help them answer that same question of "why?" when they have THEIR children!