Veterans Day

"How far that little candle
throws his beams!
So shines a good deed
in a weary world."

William Shakespeare

A Great Legacy

Jim and I went to the Jazz game the other night. We took trax down, went to dinner at the Nauvoo cafe and then wandered through Temple Square before the game. It was a beautiful night. We went into the south visitors center where they show you how the Temple was constructed. It is amazing, even having learned and known about it all my life, it is great to be reminded of what a remarkable achievement this building is.

We were talking to some lovely sister missionaries who explained how the granite was brought down the canyon by ox drawn carts like these. These sisters were from Brazil and New Zealand, and they as they told of the Saints sacrifice they got tears in their eyes. Then they asked where we were from and if we were members of the church?

(Granite spread around Temple square)

We told them that we were members of the church and that we both had ancestors who had actually worked on the Temple and who had come across the plains. Their eyes got big and they asked how we felt, that we would have our own people work on this great Temple and come as pioneers and give up all that they had for the gospel. I replied that I felt grateful and blessed that I came from such a family, and only hope to live to meet them and thank them for their great example and willingness to do all that they did.

What a great legacy!

Dear Mom,

Dear Mom,

It's been 12 years since you left us! Wow, lots has happened with the family. Your darlings have grown up and multiplied. It seems such a short time, yet when you look back and realize what has happened its been quite a while! What with Jamey's four growing up so fast. You'd love to watch them play baseball! Luke lost a tooth this past week and Hogan's getting braces. Jack is such a loving child with the best smile and Taylor is almost as tall as his dad and got straight A's! What a group. You would love spending time in Whitney and Jason's lovely downtown apartment. I can see Whit having you for a delicious luncheon and then showing you a few Yoga moves which you would embrace with enthusiasm! You would be breathing a sigh of relief that Ty finally got married, but know that the wait was worth it when you meet Melanie. Perfect for him in everyway. I spend a lot of time over at Abby's, since I help with Jake! What I wouldn't give to have you there with me for an afternoon, just listening to his funny little sentences "Come help me Grama Polly", Let's build it taller and taller Grama Polly". I'm sure he'd soon be saying "read me a story Grama Junie", and you'd be enchanted, as I am. Nick is off teaching others, and I know you would think as I do that he is the best teacher in the world. What a great man he has become. The family continues to grow, with Abby due in a month. Another boy! Life is an adventure, your example and wisdom and love showed me how to live it.

Thank you and I love and miss you.

Polly

The Girl

I remember a day I first used the Kelkemp Hug! It felt so good. I was sitting in a class next to a young girl. She was struggling so. I could feel her anguish and for just that moment she felt as though she was my child. I touched her arm and asked if I could hug her? She nodded yes and as I put my arms around her and said "it will be OK" and stroked her hair, she started sobbing. The tears seemed to give her some sort of release, just as holding her gave me the same release, and relief. Just to hold someone. To have that human contact. I'd never met that girl until that day and yet I loved her and she loved me. When someone shows us compassion, or we take the time to feel someone else's hurt and do something, we become friends instantly. Maybe if only for that moment, while the kindness is happening. But the feeling is so powerful that you might want to do something like that again in the future, whether you are the giver or the recipient. I might be in the opposite position another time and will be ever so grateful when someone is there to hold me in their arms. The power of human touch is unbelieveable. Something to give freely and when received to be cherished with much gratitude.

The Kelkemp Hug

I remember that most wonderful feeling when I was little and scared in the middle of the night. I'd run to my parents room and climb in next to my mom. Feeling her welcome arms around me never felt so secure. Or running down the sloping grass of grampa's backyard into his outstretched arms. The overwelming feeling of love when your newborn babies get put in your arms for the very first time and you get to feel their warm skin against your own. Pure heaven!! Then their hugs as they get older and they crawl into bed with you and you are their security and they cuddle ever so closely, oh for such a short time. My grandson's know that grama must always have hugs. It is part of the deal. I'll be their grama, but they must give me hugs on arrival and departure. (Inbetween is optional for them, but much appreciated by me). A few years ago, I was in the hospital and because of the nature of that hospital, there was very limited human contact. The showers there had no water pressure and the shower head could not be moved. I am very short and because of this, the water went right over my head. As a result of this my showers were basically sponge showers. Upon my arrival home there were no big open arms waiting to enfold me in a huge hug. But my shower at home has a lot of water pressure and I can move it so it shoots on my back and shoulders and neck. It was the closest I could get to a warm, enveloping hug. I was reminded of the all time best hugger. At that time I decided to learn how to hug like him and would name the hug in his honor. It would be called the "Kelkemp Hug". Because he never let anyone get passed him without letting them feel his enthusiam for life and love for all people with that beautiful smile and outstretched arms and then the warmest hug in the world. That will be my goal, to learn, to perfect and to pass on the "Kelkemp Hug"!

A Prayer

"Give me the end of the year an' its fun
When most of the plannin' an' toilin' is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin'with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An' I'll put soul in my Thanksgivin' prayers."

-Edgar A. Guest, Thanksgiving

Hold the Presses!!!

Just in from the Easterners!!!

Looks like they went trick or treating too!

I would say Tay's costume is pretty clever,

I may have to borrow the idea next year!

Pretty scary group!

Happy Halloween from grama and grampa!!!

We love you!!!

Halloween can be pretty scary!!!

Things can get pretty scary on Halloween when you have groups like this one knocking at your door!

And even more so,

when Jake and his friends

Jane and Warren say

BOO!

I almost fainted

when I saw Lily!

(not from fright, she's just toooo cute)

hope you and your little ghosts and goblins

had a happy halloween too!

Trick or Treat

Can't wait to see this little trick or treater!

He'll be by today to scare me!!

Happy Halloween!