Sophie's Story

  As many of you know I tend to dread December for many reasons. Once of them is the church Christmas program. Every year C and I participate by doing some sort of musical number. Every year I muff my part.   Two years ago after screwing up "Angels We Have Heard on High" a duet C and I played on the guitar and harp, I decided that I was not going to play the harp in a Christmas program ever again. In fact I was not going to play the harp in public ever again. I was tired of being able to play just fine in practice and then being unable to play when my hands would decide to shake uncontrollably. I had had enough. I would play the hammered dulcimer instead. I would still have some trouble if my tremors got bad, but I would be able to hit more notes than I could with the harp.   Last year I played the dulcimer in the program. It didn't go perfectly, but it went better than the year before. (It couldn't possibly have gone worse.)   This year we were asked to play for

  My friend Dana was unable to come to my annual birthday lunch. She did send along a present with someone who was able to attend. It was a crochet hook, a tapestry needle and a book on how to crochet.   I wondered why she had done this. I was just getting into knitting. There were still so many things to learn. I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface.   I decided to open the book and at least try. It wouldn't hurt. I learned to chain and then advanced to other stitches. It was sort of fun. I was still partial to knitting though and spent most of my time doing that.   Then I brought up the subject of the granny square to Dana. "Those are easy," she said. "Let me show you." I didn't realize that I had started down a dangerous path. It wasn't hard, but was going to take time and concentration. As I worked on the granny square she taught me to crochet, my mind began to spin. I could make a lot of little granny square in all sorts of colours. I c

   December is always a rough month for me. I think it is a rough month for most of us who work in retail. People are extra crabby, extra in a hurry and extra impatient. We're busier and it seems like while everyone else is enjoying the season, I'm at work. No parties. No romantic walks in the falling snow, No fun.   There's also no time to do the things that are supposed to get done for the holidays. No time to decorate, no time to bake, no time to send cards. No time to shop for presents.   I'm also bombarded with emails and catalogs with deals on presents and warning me that I'd better get going on that list before time runs out. Some of these emails come from a church bookstore, which I find a bit funny. I would expect a bookstore run by a church to be a bit well...less commercial. I'm not fond of the commercial aspect of Christmas. It isn't about peace on earth good will toward all. It's about who can get the best present at the cheapest price.

   President Campbell and Susan, his wife, gave a presentation to a group of young single adults last Sunday. He had told me about this ahead time. I felt a little envious of his audience. I would have liked to have been there for the presentation. Both of them are very good when it comes to speaking and teaching. The next day I asked him how it went. He gave his thoughts and a copy of the notes that he and Susan used.   The topic was on dating and the lists that single people make when looking for a future spouse. One of the points was that a list like than can cause you to miss out on the person that could be the right spouse. As I read their notes it made me think. As humans we like to make lists of how we would like things to be. The ring has to look like this and the center stone must be this many carats. The dress must look like this and the venue must look like that. We'll have two children, a dark haired boy and a blonde girl. Our house will look like this and will be de

  In April of 2012, I wrote a column titled "Hate". I was watching the news and seeing mostly violence. I had also recently listened to a talk by President Dieter Uchtdorf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The talk was titled, "The Merciful Obtain Mercy" The talk was on being judgmental. He included the following in his talk. "This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it!"   In my column I emphasized that this should be appliqued to hated of others.    I've been looking at the news again. Most of what I am reading is about violence, shooting,looting, raping, inflammatory language and vandalizing. I decided it was time to do something that I've never done before. I decided it was time to revisit the topic.   One thing I have never been able to understand

   I was going to knit two hats for my infant grandson. I had already made one and was almost finished with the other. After I finished this hat, I had one more to knit and then I could start on The Scarf Project. I was anxious to finish. As much as I like to knit the hats, I was getting bored. There is only one stich to knit and I was afraid I was going lose my ability to do other stitches.   There is a point in a knitted hat when you must change to double pointed needles because your circular needle is too big. I'd already done this twice so I felt pretty confident. I carefully inserted one double pointed needle into the stitches on the circular needle. I made sure all the stiches were on the needle. I did this with the other two double points. Then I carefully slipped the circular needle out. I put on my row marker and went back to knitting.    Then things started to go wrong. I had missed a stitch and it was hanging precariously one row below where I was. I got my trusty cr