My Very Own Style, Through the Years.

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My cousin Vickie and Me!

As a Little Girl: Rompers, Calico prints outfit with rick rack around the edge. The things I remember wearing the most was rompers with the straps that tie on your shoulders. Mama made some of my clothes and I loved everything she made. I didn’t know if I was in style or not. I loved flowery patterns and dresses that you can twirl in. I loved white socks that fold at the ankle and black patent leather Mary Jane’s. Getting dressed for church was my favorite.

My three big brothers and me!

As a Teenager: High heels and Bell bottom jeans, HASH, A Smile, and Ditto jeans were the rage. I was lucky enough to own a pair of HASH jeans. One pair and none of the others. I owned one Gunne Sax Dress. It was beautiful and I felt beautiful in it. I wore it to a dance once. Being a teenager and not really having a wardrobe full of the latest styles was a challenge, but I didn’t worry about it too much.

I made this dress for a dance. I loved it!

During my teen years and since I have done quite a bit of sewing. I made many of my clothes in high school and when I prepared for my LDS mission I made a few outfits to take with me. I even sew a few dresses on my mission, borrowing a sewing machine from the ward or branch.

After high school and early married: 501 Jeans. My Sweetie and I for a very short time wore the same size 29″ waist, and could share jeans. After I got pregnant with our first and from then on we both were a bigger size, his not so much, mine definitely bigger. Doing my best to always look my best was my focus.

As a Mama: T-shirts and shorts, stretch or sweat pants. Usually embellished with spit up and baby food. Comfort seemed to be the biggest priority. The kids didn’t care what I wore and we just played and learned together.

As a Grandma: Thrifted Button up shirts and jeans or capris. Most important is the thrift part. I can’t see spending money at a department store when I can buy gently warn nice clothes that I’m saving from the landfill. I love that I can buy a shirt at the thrift store that is long sleeved and make it a short sleeve at just the right length on my arm. I recently bought a dress that had a fabric tie around the waist. The sleeves were a little short for my comfort, so I used the tie to make the sleeves longer and made a tie that just ties in the back and doesn’t go all the way around. It worked perfect. I made it my own. I am very fond of my wardrobe.

I have never been a fashionable dresser, but I have my own style and I like it. I am comfortable and I feel like I look nice.

The United States of America, My Beloved Country

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My Parents Influence was very impactful on the love I have for my beloved United States of America. My Daddy served in the US Army as a young man. They were both born in the Great Depression, making them very humble and grateful for all blessings. They were frugal not being over indulgent in having things, but very careful with what they owned using things up and wearing things out. They didn’t have to throw much away, because they repaired and took good care of their home, cars, clothes, and yard. Many days out of the year an American Flag hung from the front porch. We were taught to love our country and be grateful for all of the abundance living here provides. When jets stationed at the Air Force Base just south of where I grew up, would fly overhead, my Mama would put her hand on her heart a say with an “Awe” in her voice, “Just look at that! That is the sound of Freedom!” My parents taught me that even though things aren’t perfect here in this country, it is the best country on earth. It is the only place on earth where you have the right to choose most anything you might imagine. There are laws, so within the boundary of laws, you can even burn the flag. Most places would never allow that. It breaks my heart when people do it, but I know that because of our beautiful country, if someone wants to they can. We were always taught to share. Sometimes the government tries to get involved in giving to those less fortunate, but it will never be fair, because imperfect people are in charge. We always give a tithe to our church, and donate to various groups to help others. That’s just what you do to love your neighbor. I can’t tell others what to do with their money, but I was taught to share. We have an abundance in this country.

From the very first day I started school we stood as a class and said The Pledge of Allegiance. Picture 25 tiny little kindergarteners with their hands over their heart looking up at the flag and saying: “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of The United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One nation under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. ” How wonderful! How perfect to be an ally and true to our country. It’s not a democracy like so many say, it’s a Republic. The dictionary defines a Republic as: a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. Our beautiful country is ours! It belongs to each of its citizens. And my favorite part is that we are “One Nation Under God.” Our country is founded and originally lead by God fearing, courageous, noble men and women who put God first. They knew they were nothing without God. They prayed at all meetings asking and pleading with God to be with them as they worked out how to build this country . My personal belief is that we were all meant to choose what religion that suites us. If you don’t have a country that believes in a God, an all powerful being, supreme, how can you be allowed to choose what you want to believe. People came because this country would allow that. The founders wanted us all to be undivided, so that choosing faith and God is critical. If we do choose Faith and God, there will be Justice for all, because we will love our neighbor as ourselves. We will want what’s best for us and our neighbor and all citizens.

Well, there are a lot of people who don’t want God involved in their lives in this country. We used to get a ten minute quiet time for meditation or prayer when I was in elementary. Prayer is not very popular right now. Some schools don’t even say the Pledge of Allegiance. Our country is struggling.

When Brett’s parents, Pearce and Nancy were serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Boston, we knew we had to visit. It was our once in a lifetime trip. We were able to fly to Boston, where we stayed with the in-laws. We rented a big van and trucked all over with our family of 6 and Pearce and Nancy. This is the list of the places we saw: Fall River, Lexington and Concord, Old North Church, Paul Revere’s Home, New England Aquarium, Plymouth, Plimouth Plantation, Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, New Bedford, New York, Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, US Mint, Betsy Ross Home, Washington DC, The following Monuments and Memorials; Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Vietnam, Iwo Jima, Vietnam Women’s Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Marines Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial . We went to The Air and Space Museum, The US History Museum, The Museum of Natural History and then at the end of the trip we walked the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston before we flew home.

I was in so much amazement, awe and respect for this beautiful country. Learning about and seeing so many places that represent our history. We live in a time when some people look down on the founders. I am amazed at all they accomplished. I am grateful for their tenacity and grit. I don’t have any room to judge any of them. I understand a lot of our history and why things happened when and how they happened. I like to believe they did their very best. I feel ashamed of those who judge them. There is a very prideful attitude in our country right now. Very judgmental, and critical of all others. While on our trip I thought about the young founders like George Washington and others, who weren’t really that old, who gave so much time to fight for freedom. I thought about the pilgrims who came over the ocean and did their best to survive the first winter, half of whom died. What did they eat? How did they do it? I know there are some stories that are harsh about them, I think they did the best they could, just like we would. I thought about the beautiful- Statue of Liberty and of the feeling of gratitude those who went through so much coming to live here must have felt to see her. I thought about all of the talking and reasoning that helped the original 13 colonies decide to unite. I felt so much gratitude and love for those who fought and those who died fighting in all of the wars throughout history. I love all of them! I hope they know. We viewed the displays of many of the miraculous events like Space travel, breaking the sound barrier, first flight across the Atlantic. We saw amazing skeletons of animals, the Hope Diamond, meteorite rocks, and I felt so grateful for those who organize all of these things so we can see them. We drove back up to Massachusetts from DC and we were amazed that all of these things we had seen and done were within about 7 hours of each other. We had a magnificent time. We will never for it. I feel so grateful for our nation and it’s history. I’m so happy to know the history, warts and all. I love The United States of America!

I hope it’s clear that even though our beautiful country is not perfect that I will always stand by her. I will always believe in her, and I believe there is Always Hope! I trust our wonderful Heavenly Father the He will bless our country. Even though so many have forgotten about Him, so far He hasn’t forgotten us. I will always be true to God and Country. I am so Grateful for The United States of America.

Moments From the Past

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Thinking about the best moments in my life makes me wish I could return just for a quick visit. I would never want to go back and change things. At this point in my life I can see how the best moments were a gift, and the hard moments were a lesson. With that said, if I could go back for a visit I totally would, only if I could come right back to this moment and not have to repeat all the in-between experiences that brought me to this point.

The first moment that I’d like to go back to was the day I married my best friend, and sweetheart. I remember as a young teenager feeling unsure about myself. I wasn’t sure if I was pretty enough, or skinny enough, or good enough for anyone to love. I was so amazed and blessed when my sweetheart and I found each other. We have been married almost 39 years now. Long before we fell in love we were good friends. I knew him for many years before he asked me out. We were so comfortable with each other I wasn’t sure it was a date. I thought to myself “Are we going as friends?” Well, I decided if he opened the door for me, it was a date. And he did open the door for me. I was so excited to know he wanted to be more than friends. But we’ve always been friends even now. I married my best friend, and my sweetheart. What a wonderful day!

The next moment I would love to return to is really 4 moments. The moments each of our children were born. What a miracle! One minute they’re in and part of you and the next they are their own person; breathing, crying, wiggling, looking around at the world. What a gift that Heavenly Father has given us to become parents. To learn that most special love. I remember the quiet moments, holding them and just looking at them. Wondering if I’ll ever be able to do the parent thing right for them. Then what seemed like too fast they grew up.

I’m so grateful for these wonderful moments in life. Sometimes life feels like a lot. So many challenges, so much fun, experiences that teach us and experiences where we’re the teacher. So many things we hope for, and so many things we hope we never have to go through. We don’t always get to choose. But I think these precious, and beautiful moments are what keeps me going.

Airplanes

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Airplanes are amazing.

Definition: A vehicle designed for air travel that has wings and one or more engines.

I used to love to watch airplanes as a child; flying across the sky, landing and taking off to who knows where. It always made my imagination waunder and I’d wish I could go on a trip to many places.

While in junior high school one of my teachers had his pilot license. He offered to take several of us students for a ride in his airplane. One thing he required was a note written by a parent stating that they would be ok with him taking us. I got the note and couldn’t wait to fly. I believe there were 3 of us kids. We all met the teacher after school, and he drove us out to the airport.

I felt no fear. I was so excited to fly! It was such an unusual experience. Something I’d never felt before. The teacher flew in a small twin engine airplane. He did a few tricks like climbing straight up and then coming down fast. We felt weightless when we came down fast. It was one of the first experiences I’ve ever had that I felt so adventurous. As I look back on it now, I’m surprised my Mom let me go, but I had so much fun and was so glad I went.

While growing up we really never took airplanes on trips. If we went, which wasn’t very often, we drove. Flying was too expensive. We went to Oregon, Washington, California, and even back to Minnesota, all in the comfort of our family car. No A/C, no seatbelts, just windows down and music playing. All of our trips took days, or weeks.

Just out of high school I flew with my best friend Julie to St. George. Her Dad had a pilots license and flew us down. I had barely had to have stitches in my knee from a horseback riding accident, and had to thread my left leg through the middle of the two front seats. That was an adventure. At least it didn’t take very long to get there.

My first commercial airplane ride was when I left on my mission. I was so blessed to represent my Savior and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I served in the Texas, San Antonio Mission. I was excited to fly there, but nervous to leave home. It was so different than the little twin engine plane I road in with my teacher in junior high school. I served my mission for 18 months. All of us missionaries would keep track of who was getting close to going home, and tease them about being “Trunky” which means you’re having a hard time working and concentrating on finishing your mission with gusto, because you couldn’t wait to leave and fly home. It is a real thing that happens, but I think all missionaries try to stay focused and finish with honor and dignity. So when the other missionaries found out I was leaving soon they would tease me. They called my going home -on a airplane and not returning my “Deplanage”. They bought me a little tie tac that was an airplane and made me wear it. It was all in good fun and the airplane ride home from my mission was wonderful!

Since then I’ve flown on planes many times. It is more nerve racking now than it was back in my younger years. I don’t really like the “leaving” part of going on trips, I love to be home. Once I’m there though, I’m so glad I’m there and really enjoy the trip and the places we see.

One of the best things about airplanes is that they take us to places we may never be able to go to in our lives if we couldn’t fly there. I’ve been so blessed to fly to San Antonio, Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, Charleston, Los Angeles, and New York. They allow us to experience the “trips of a life time” and for a lot of us that is such a grand experience!

Brave

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To be brave is almost the same as courageous. The dictionary describes Brave as; possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance. I don’t know for sure if I’ve ever been really brave. Maybe a little brave. I have done things that were hard, scary and I may have I endured them fairly well. I do believe I did my best.

When I think of Brave people I think of David who killed Goliath. He truly was an example of bravery. His story is one of my favorites. The scripture reads:

1 Samuel 17:20 And David 1-rose up early in the morning, and 2-left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as 3-Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. 21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.

1-He was not lazy, 2- He was responsible, leaving the sheep with a keeper, and 3-Obedient doing what his father had commanded him to do.

Then he finds out that this Philistine had been taunting them for 40 days, saying he would fight any of the soldiers. Goliath was huge, and probably ugly and very intimidating. David is surprised that Israelite Amy is not going up against him. He goes to Saul the King and asks if he can go up against Goliath. Saul says no, you’re too young, you are not a soldier and just a shepherd boy. So David tells the king about all the times he has save the sheep from wolves and bears, killing them and saving the sheep. 35 And 4-I went out after him, and smote him, and 5-delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and 6-smote him, and slew him.

David, 4-Was brave and determined to stop the wild beasts from killing the sheep. 5-He saved the sheep right out of the mouth of the beasts. 6-Then he finished the job so the wild animal couldn’t come back after the sheep.

36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

This is one of my favorite parts, he is using persuasion to convince the king about something the king already knows. The Israelites were the army of the Living God. You cannot go wrong with God on your side. So of course Saul says he can do it. He gives him armor, it’s too big, so David says I will go out without it. So Brave! He chooses 5 smooth stones and heads out to meet Goliath, and says:

46 This day will the Lord adeliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may bknow that there is a God in Israel.

47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the abattle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.

49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

Wow!! Just, wow! Of course then all the army of the Israelites are cheering and ready to go after the Philistines.

David of course became very well known and eventually became the king. I love this story and David because he is so focused on what is important at each moment in this story. Most important to me is that, he was so brave. He was young, and not a soldier, but he showed all the soldiers what true bravery is like. He knew that His God had protected him at other times in his life and he knew that God can be trusted with what He says He’ll do. He believed and had faith. Faith is a principle of action. When you believe you need to go and do what you know you should and what God commands.

I know others who have been brave. Ancestors who crossed seas and continents to find a special place to live and believe what they knew to be true. I have parents and brothers who went through many challenges in theirs lives with bravery and endurance. I know that being Brave is very important in this world. We know we’re here to learn and grow. Some learning is scary and hard. Sometimes we have experiences that we know are coming and we don’t want to go through, but if our focus and trust in in the Living God, we can be Brave and go through hard things, and come out successful and true at the end.

My Philosophy on Money

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Money is hard for me to wrap my brain around.

I know I need it to live, buy things, and enjoy life, but I don’t always know for sure how I’m going to do all of these things. I just do the best I can and it seems to work.

One reason why I think money is hard for me is because I’m not a number gal. I’m not good at Math, I don’t speak the language, I mean basics yes, but I’ve always struggled with remembering numbers.

Let me share an example; when I go to the store to buy bananas they have a price. The labeled price may be higher or lower than the last time, best price or average price. I would never know the difference. I don’t know how much bananas sell for. If I need bananas, I buy them. I know this sounds weird, like I never shop, but I do. I should know, but I don’t. Even right now I have no idea how much they are and I don’t care. Maybe that’s why I don’t know or pay attention, is because it’s not important to me. Interestingly enough. For years when I would make a trip to the store for some groceries, my total, without adding or counting what I had in the cart was almost always around $70-$75. No kidding! Yes, I bought a lot of the same or similar things but not always. If we needed it, I just bought it and if we didn’t I didn’t. I’m very frugal anyway and always have been. Now my average is more like $100-$120. Still that’s not much compared to what most people spend.

I don’t really like to shop for clothes much. I love to thrift! One of the funnest things about thrifting is the hunt. Looking for a treasure! “One man’s garbage is another man’s (or woman’s) treasure,” is truth. Something about buying a used item, and it’s still usable makes my heart happy.

I would also consider myself very humble as far a my looks go. Honestly I’m just an average looking gal. I went to cosmetology school when I was young, and still have my license, but I don’t spent much on myself. I remember my teachers in school telling us that what we do is enhance or compliment the natural beauty. What that tells me is blue hair, super long nails, and incredibly long and thick eyelashes are not natural. I have are hard time spending money on things that are not necessary, and cost a ton. I know that lots of girls get hair extensions and they can cost thousands of dollars. I know that is not a good thing. I colored my hair for years. Then I didn’t want to pay someone to do it, so I taught my sweety how to do it. He struggle with it a little and I finally thought “Why?” I don’t care about having my hair colored, I’m getting older and I think I should act my age. So I quit. I was only spending about $10-$15 dollars a month on my hair, so I decided to donate $10/month to our churches Humanitarian Fund. It’s not much, but I feel better about that, and I have grown very fond of my gray hair.

As far as going on trips and adventures go, we are very careful about that. We are trying to prepare for retirement, and feel like we don’t want to struggle then. Paying extra on our house, doing some investing, and living frugal will hopefully make retirement happen. But we do have very generous people in our lives who are always blessing us with fun things to do. My best friend is a gem about letting us visit and enjoy fun times with them. My siblings have helped us go on sibling trips by sharing the financial responsibilities. We mostly just do visits with our friends and family close to home.

When the kids were little money was such a challenge, but we paid our tithing and still do, and we have never gone without. We were able to help 3 of kids serves LDS missions, and enjoyed a few trips a year to Bear Lake and Park City. My in-laws had a trailer at Bear Lake and a timeshare at Park City. We had so much fun and spent very little money.

To some up, I’d say my philosophy about money is respect it, what it can do for you, even if you live modestly. Always have a grateful heart. Like I told the kids years ago, not all blessings are financial. We have everything we need and we are very comfortable. We use only what we need, and share with others.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

God is good. Money is a necessary part of life, but when you careful and always grateful there is always enough!

The Time I Thought Amanda Died.

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 For years now, me and my sweetie have shopped at thrift stores and had a blast doing it. We have found all kinds of things; home furnishings, knickknacks, toys, scrapbook paraphernalia, and clothing, to name a few. It is always so much fun to see what we find. What kind of treasure we will get to take home. 

One time while shopping at the thrift store, I found several jean type pants that were my size and in very great shape. On the back at the waist, inside where the belt would go looked like an iron-on label that said: Amanda. 

Now, it’s not uncommon to find clothing at the thrift store that has come from a rest home or convalescent center where someone has passed on and they are donating all of their clothes. Each of these pants had the name Amanda just inside the waistband in the back. I thought, “Hmmmm, maybe Amanda died at the old folks home so they donated her pants.” I was so excited, because if Amanda died, she was free from the toil and hardships of this world, and I would be the new owner of her pants. They were in great shape in various colors and just my size. In other words, we would both benefit from her death. I have enjoyed these pants for some time and been very grateful for them.

Then on a recent trip to St. George, I once again was shopping at the thrift store and came across some really nice pants and looked at the back of the waist to find the name: Amanda. I was so surprised! Maybe Amanda didn’t die and maybe it was just the style of the pants that had been made for a cute little chunky chick like me from this company. I found my sweetie, and exclaimed, “Amanda didn’t die!” He looked perplexed and said, “what are you talking about?” I reminded him about all the pants we found up north, closer to home that we thought belonged to Amanda, and that we also thought she died at the rest home, and they donated her pants. He said, “Oh, yeah!” I showed him the pants I just found and said, “There’s no way Amanda could be in a rest home up north and in St George, a month later and die again. We laughed and laughed and I got some more new Amanda pants.

Possible ADHD or Square Peg

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When I was a kid in school I liked many things about it; making friends, playing on the play ground, going to gym class, and possibly learning new things. I don’t remember learning to read, but I loved the Dick and Jane books. The pictures were so colorful and the children were adorable. I can’t really remember liking learning new things, because sometimes it was hard. Sometimes it felt like my head hurt. I must have like learning though, because I did.

I’m so glad I learned enough to get me to adulthood and now I love learning. Maybe it’s one of the times that “practice makes perfect” or at least practice makes better. I may have had ADHD, but it really wasn’t a thing back then and I know my Mama always said my older brother Brian was hyper active. That was what they called it back then. He did graduate from college with a degree, so he must have learned some coping skills. I was not like him in the hyper sense. I liked to play and be busy, just not hyper active. Raising 3 children with ADHD, I have felt they are extremely gifted, they just learn, and express themselves in a different way. I used to say the school system was a round hole and my kids were a square peg. They are amazing, gifted, and talented people who grew up to be wonderful adults and contributors.

I’m not great with math even now. It’s ok though because I don’t really use it for much and I have a calculator on my phone. I still don’t know how to write sentences and other English things, I usually have my daughter proof read my writing, she’s a genius at English. I loved gymnastics which I took instead of gym all through junior high and high school. I know that I liked anything that had to do with art. In fact probably my favorite class was pottery. This was my senior year in high school and we had such a great time throwing pots on the wheel and learning all about pottery, glaze and how to put a handle on a pitcher or cup. Maybe it was the fact that we were using our hands and forming the clay. It was so tactile. Feeling the clay move past my hands while it was going so fast and pulling it ever so carefully up or out to create a vase or bowl. It was so fun.

Maybe I was just bored in the other classes, not ADHD, maybe I just hadn’t found the thing for me. I never had a hard time staying focused in pottery class. Thankfully I have learned to love learning new things and I have learned how to focus when it is important.

I think ADHD or a square peg are just different, and I’m ok with it. If fact I honor it.

Something Absolutely Precious

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Merriam-Webster defines precious as something of great value or high price, like precious jewels, highly esteemed or cherished.

When the kids were little, their schools always had a talent show every year. If the kids wanted to be involved, they would let me know so that I could come. The year Alex was in first grade I think, I never heard a word about the talent show until after the talent show. While talking with one of the teachers at the school, she mentioned that Alex was in the talent show. I said he was? She said yes and then she started to cry. She said it was the most adorable thing, it was precious. He went up in front of the whole school and said that he was going to whistle, which he did, but it wasn’t a melody or a song. It was just one note, for few seconds, and then he went and sat down. The reason why this particular teacher thought it was so precious, was because some of the children were doing talents, such as; playing an instrument, doing a dance, singing a song, reading a poem, but Alex’s talent was that he had recently learned to whistle and wanted to share it with the whole school.

When I heard this, I started to cry. He has always been a very sweet and precious little boy. Now he is a very sweet adult daddy, and the father of two darling children of his own. I’m so grateful this teacher told me about Alex in the talent show. He never said a word and neither did anyone else, but it is now a cherished story and memory for me, and I think it is something absolutely precious.

She’s Got a Mouth on Her 

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One time when I was in the clerk’s office at church, I was filling out our tithing slip and also filling out our missionary contributions.

I did a no no, and I said a swear word. 

We had two missionaries out the time Kelsey was serving in Texas. Alex was serving in South Africa. We knew our main responsibility was Alex, because members in our ward made the generous offer to help in paying for Kelsey‘s mission.

At the time the monthly amount needed, for a missionary was $400. Both sets of grandparents were each paying $100 as well. It was such a blessing to have all this help while our kids served the Lord. This did not, however, stop me from worrying or feeling concerned about our finances and whether we would be able to come up with enough money to help with the missionaries. Even while filling out the forms, I was hoping and wondering if we could make ends meet in my mind. I was always worried about money.

Even though I consider myself a fairly righteous person, I’m definitely not perfect and have had a problem with swearing most of my adult life.

I’m sorry to say I just feel better after I say a swear word.

So on this day, standing in the clerks office trying to fill out the form. I made a mistake on the form and said a naughty word. I hate to say it but I’m sure they all heard what I said. I followed it up with, “When you guys get to heaven, please put in a good word for me. I’ll need all the help I can get.”

They laughed, but said nothing else. I hate it when that happens I may have even been the primary president during this incident as well. Oh well, I may be OK after all. J. Golden Kimball, when asked if he thought he’d make it to Heaven replied, “Yes, because I repent too damn fast.” I love that, knowing that an apostle used colorful language and even he thought it’s OK when you say a swear once in a while.

When I was a kid, my mama had two main swears that she used. Although she would say she wasn’t swearing. The first one was “Hells bells!” When faced with a challenge or a difficult task, sometimes Mom would say, “Oh, Hells bells!” The other one was,  “Dingdong damn.” It was one of my favorites because she’s usually be upset with one of us kids or upset with something we did or didn’t do and she say, “I don’t give a dingdong damn what you do!”

Because she added a word to the swear word she acted like it wasn’t swearing. We knew better, it’s all in your intent. So as a Mama myself, I just dropped the dingdong or the hells, and use the words without the embellishments my mama used. I think in the grand scheme of things, she’s ok and so am I.

Mostly because “We repent too damn fast!”