Well, I feel sort of like a fish out of water. I now have 2 adult children that are out of high school. I am feeling pretty old and not sure what I'm doing a good share of the time.
The last few weeks have had some ups and downs. When I say ups and downs, I mean huge high peaks and very deep pits. I don't like roller coasters...at all. I do fine sometimes dealing with everything and then some days I really just want it to all be over.
So Kyler was working out in South Carolina as an Installing Technician for Vivint. He seemed to be doing pretty well for the first part and really liking his job. He did however have several things happen while he was there and these things really caused his experience there to go bad in a hurry. When he went out there he was thinking he would be making quite a lot of money and things would be good, but what happened was that he was not getting as many installs as previously thought and his power steering went out, which he repaired himself thank goodness, something went wrong with something he had to patch up to keep things cool, and then the big one was when his clutch went out. Between not getting the jobs and having all of these things happen. I was decided that he would come home and look for something here. None of us could afford for him to stay any longer. He really wanted to stick it out and succeed at this job, but it was better for all for him to come home. Whether he stayed or not or whatever the reasons are or not, we are proud of him for taking this leap and doing his best to make it work. This was an experience he should chalk up as a learning experience that just didn't work out the way we had all hoped and planned. Dan made a quick trip from SLC to Charlotte, NC on the 1st of June and they drove home and arrived safely on Wednesday the 3rd very early in the morning. Kyler got up and went to work for Rick that morning (thank you for this) and is looking for other opportunities while keeping busy.
So there was one of the lower points...
Dan started back working at Vivint. This has an up and down. He works in the same dept as Megan and I and the extra income is a good thing, but we don't see him very often and we miss him at home.
On May 30th, Megan graduated from Timpanogos High School
There are really not any words that can explain how unbelievably proud we are, but I think the picture above sort of explains it. It was touch and go as to whether she would make it 72 hours before this picture was taken, but she did it, she pushed through and worked hard for the entire year and now she has reaped the reward. We had a huge BBQ in her honor the next day and it was a huge success. She started full time at her job 3 days later and is feeling pretty good right now. We are thrilled for her and so proud.
So, that was a high point...
On Monday, a neighbor came by to give Megan a graduation gift and while talking to me, mentioned how cute our dog was and reached to pet him at which point he felt threatened for some reason and bit her. She was worried about diseases and had it checked and Utah state law is that whenever there is a dog bite that results in a visit to a dr it must be reported to the police. Well, long story short, the dog committed a crime, was arrested and taken in to jail (quarantine for 10 days) and we had to pay his bail of $200 to hopefully get him back when his sentence is up. We miss him terribly, but are working on a plan to help him not bite and be trained a little better when he comes home. I was very unpleased with the police officer. He was very rude to me and kept reminding me how "vicious" my dog was. He is not vicious, he was startled somehow. I'll just be glad to get him back and move on with our lives. I really miss him, and so does everyone in the house...including the cats. In the meantime, Jake got really sick with a fever and was in bed thinking he was going to die for 3 days. All while Dan was on his way home with Kyler.
That was a low point...
Aubree has been working a lot more hours lately. She is not really enjoying her job, but she does enjoy getting paid, so our hope is that she will be able to settle in and be happy, or else find something else. She worked hard and managed to pull all of her grades up in the last term and passed them all last term. She plans to hopefully get her drivers permit later today.
Poor Jake. He did something very noteworthy during this time and while it wasn't forgotten or unnoticed, it did sort of get overlooked. I think he felt bad for a day or two, but we hope he understood that with Megan graduating, it was her time to get some attention. After trying all year and narrowly missing it every term, he finally achieved a 4.0 grade point average. His cumulative for the year was 3.94! I don't think I every achieved any of those, or even close ever in jr or high school! I did get a 4.0 a couple times in college though. He is a good kid and works hard to get good grades and I hope he knows we are proud of him and his efforts. We have told him this, but hope he didn't feel too overlooked with Megan's graduation. He did all of this while recovering from a fairly bad knee injury. He is an accident prone person. We are all very grateful that his knee was not injured as bad as originally thought. If it had, we were looking at surgery and more than likely no more football, which would have devastated him.
So there was a high point...and a low at times. But I have been trying to focus on the high ones.
I have been having an increasingly hard time trying to deal with the state of this state in regards to so many things. The reactions of many (the majority really) over many things has been very saddening to me. I really have felt that there is so much quite literal hatred thrown around here that it is ruining what is supposed to be a wonderful place. I know of many people who have spent their entire lives trying to get to this place to sit at the feet of the people here, only to be disappointed at the hatred and general meanness. Now I'm not saying everyone is this way and there are many good people, but I'm afraid that it would be a highly disappointing view to anyone from the outside looking in, possibly looking for some place to feel at peace. I have very strong opinions now that I have left the church, about how many people are treated. I, like that bishop somewhere in Utah did, have sort of done some experiments to see what happens. What I have found out is simply sad and depressing. A while back a conversation at work had turned to tattoos. One of the members of the group expressed their dismay for tattoos in general, even going as far as to say that people with them were insecure and ruining their bodies. When one of my coworkers mentioned that I had one, this person literally turned and walked away from me and didn't speak to me for several days. Yesterday I wore a shirt that showed just a very small part of my tattoo. This person still wouldn't even look at me. Today, I wore one that shows the entire thing. I have caught many looking and being shocked that I have it. I will say though, so far, that I know of, the only person who has really been upset is the before mentioned one. They still don't even want to speak to me. I wore this same shirt to Jake's band concert last month. It was a very hard experience for me to have to go through, but people that have been my "friends" for years, saw my tattoo and couldn't even form a sentence to speak to me. Since then, I have been ostracized by several more of my neighbors/friends. All because they saw my tattoo. I didn't do or say anything, all it took to offend or scare or do whatever to them was for me to get a tattoo on myself. If it was of daffy duck or something I might understand some of the reaction, but mine is very symbolic and very important to me. Maybe understand before you freak out. It doesn't send out evil vibes or the plague or anything. I am still me, just with a little extra ink ;-)
I read an article this afternoon that really disturbed me. I won't share it or it's subject on here so as to not start anything, but it really hit me how mean and toxic this place has become. I feel that everyone, myself included, should take more care in themselves and not try so hard to take care of everyone else's lives. Everyone is different and on a different path and with different directions and way to get there. This does not mean any one of them are wrong, just different. We need to accept people for what and who they are and for their differences and not be so insistent on everything going the way we want. Let people do what they please and we do what we please. Live and let live. Only then will peace a love actually abound. Be there for others, when they need you, not when you feel they should need you. Love everyone for who they are. Anyway, you get the picture. I just don't know how much longer I can live in the toxic hatred that is around us everywhere. Yes, every place has it's problems, but things in this place are pretty scary and sad lately.
Anyway, I'll stop spouting off now. I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for reading.
Christy
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