Sophie's Story

   Once a month or so I teach at the Relief Society Sunday morning meeting. There is a lesson manual that I use. The manuals are teachings of past presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year we are studying the teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson.   The lesson that I've been assigned to teach is on the elderly. There couldn't be a more perfect lesson for me. I like hanging around older people. I always have. When I was younger I always preferred to spend time with the parents of the people my age. I was raised Lutheran and looked forward to being confirmed because then it meant that I could attend the adult Bible Study class instead of hanging out with the other high school kids.   Caring for older family members runs in my family. Both of my parents had grandparents living with them when they were younger. Both of my great-grandfathers on my mother's side of the family were alive when I was young. I remember both ...

   Yesterday C and I were out for our usual morning run. I've run the same route for about four years and we've been running the same route all this summer. Part of the route require us to run in the street because there is no sidewalk. We were running single file as usual due to traffic on the street. We were about 4 inches from the curb, not even close to being in the driving lane.   We were moving along at a pretty good clip when a newer model white car came toward us and swerved into us. There was no one else on the road. There were no animals attempting to cross the street. Fortunately C saw the swerve starting and moved onto the grass. I followed after him. The car swerved back into the driving lane and continued on.   I knew why this had happened. It had happened to me a couple times before over the years that I've been out running. There is always someone who thinks it is "fun" to scare runners or bikers by driving into them so they have to run off the...

   Several months ago C read something that said cow's milk is an unhealthy beverage. It turns out that that the milk board and dairy farmers have been lying to us all these years. All those celebrities with the milk mustaches were selling us a bill of goods. What kind of world have we come to when you can't trust Princess Kay of the Milky Way?    This meant that we needed to find a replacement beverage. There are just some times where only a cold glass of milk will do. Fortunately we have many choices. I'd like to take you through my journey to find a replacement.   The first thing we tried was almond milk. It was touted as being the healthiest with lots of omega 3 fatty acids and other good things. C tried it and loved it. I didn't. I don't like almonds, to me they are unbearably bitter. Unless they are smoked, smothered in honey or ground up and put in Bit O Honey candy, I can't eat them. I imagine that if I were ever poisoned  the poison would taste...

   We have taken a road trip the Chicago. Most people go to Chicago for the music festivals or to experince big city life. We come here so we can visit the Chicago Botanic Garden.   The garden is a lovely place located  north of Chicago. This is the best time of year to be here. Everything is beautiful, lush and green.   One of the things that I like to do when I come here is touch plants. I know it's safe because all the plants are marked. I like to touch plants when we are at the Arboretum in Minnesota too.   I started this habit in the herb garden. You rub the leaves between you fingers and it releases the oils in the plant that create it's scent. I love to smell the plants especially thyme  and anything with a lemon scent. Then I branched out to leaves that have interesting textures. Lamb's ear is my favourite. Depending on how dry the weather has been the leaves can vary in softness.   Then I starting touching flowers that had interesti...

   One of the jobs I dislike the most is taking Scamp to the vet. When he was small it was not so bad. I put him into his carrier and he would fuss a bit on the drive to the vet. Once we got there he would tolerate the exam and shots with fairly good grace. The I would take him home and give him a treat.   Then one day he decided that enough was enough. While undergoing his usual physical he starting making noises I've never heard him make before. He growled and hissed at the same time. He lunged and tried to bite the tech that was holding him. He screamed and twisted like he was possessed. Then he defecated on one of the vet tech's shoes.   I was very upset. My other cats were very well behaved when taken to the vet. They minded their manners and expressed only slightly their dislike. My sweet, cuddly loveable Scamp had turned into a devil cat.   What made it worse is that he was not like this at home. Most of the time he was well mannered unless he w...

   The story I am about to write is a true story.  It begins like this.  A few years ago, Sophie, my wife, would say to me on occasion, "I don't like the wedding ring I bought you! I wish you would lose it, so I could buy you a nicer one."  I would always respond, "But honey, I love my ring.  I don't want a different ring.  This is the one I want and I am happy with it."  Sophie would then just say, "I'm glad you like it, but I don't."    Well, this kind of discussion would come up every few months and my response would always be the same. By the way, my name is C.  I'm Sophie's husband.  I love her dearly, and I treasure the wedding ring she gave me, almost 11 years ago now!!  I have always prided myself on being careful with where I placed my ring whenever I would take it off.  Such as when washing dishes, showering, etc. I could never bear the thought of losing that ring!!  The thought of hurting o...

   Someone shared an article on Facebook. I knew looking from the title that I was going to get angry reading it. I scrolled past it to see if there were other things to look at. When I was done, I scrolled back up. I was still there. Against my better judgment, I clicked on it. Sure enough, I had only read through about half of it when I felt my blood pressure go up. I'm fairly certain that a small tendril of steam escaped from my ear. It was another article about how whites are racist. This had a different spin on it though. Not only are whites racist, but we refuse to acknowledge our racism because we don't realize that we are in this glorious protective bubble called "white privilege". We aren't affected by racism therefore it doesn't exist. Oh..I forgot...others cannot point out our obvious racism because it hurts our feelings and causes us to get defensive.   I'm getting tired of being told that I'm racist because I happen to have light skin,...