With a tip of the hat either to Gene Autry or
Aerosmith depending on you generation, we are back physically to India and back
to capturing our experiences in this blog. Woohoo!
Since the last blontry, I joined Rae for two weeks of
family time in Oregon. It was great to see everyone and soak up the love, the
relative cool (even though Portland was having a heat wave for them), and
beauty of Oregon. I won’t try to capture all we did, but in addition to just spending
time with our Oregon family and friends, some of the highlights included:
Colvin’s 8th birthday and baptism; seeing Emily and Kai for a few
days who joined us from Arizona; seeing Launa and Jenna, who drove up from
California to see us; and spending some time with Larry Capps – we recuperated
together. And it was a time of healing. No one would let me do anything and
kept having me keep my legs elevated. I also went 11 times to Brendon’s Radiant
Pain Relief Center for treatment. As a consequence, I am essentially pain free
even after the flight back from the US.
We got back just in time. We got back Tuesday morning
at 1:00 AM; Dr. Shurtz and Feroze
arrived about 2:00 PM. The whirlwind started the next morning. Over the next
three days we looked at all of the potential properties for a new campus, and
had about a thousand meetings about what we are doing (or trying to do), and
how we can do it better. Many decisions were made, and by Friday night we were more
aligned than we have ever been.
One of the key decisions we made was about a new
campus. We all agreed on one property in particular. It will take a few months
to develop the design and do the remodelling. In fact, we undoubtedly won’t be
here when they move to the new campus. It will at least be exciting to see the
designs come together.
That’s about it for me. It is a lot more fun to write
the blog when there are two of us. Here’s Rae!
It’s been a long time since I’ve contributed to our
blontry, and the saddle is feeling a bit odd.
Let’s see if I can share some of the things that have changed while I
was gone, and some things that are still the same. One thing that hasn’t changed is the
construction of the metro. It still goes
on, and maybe always will, but the detours and construction areas have
shifted. The summer heat is the same,
sorry to report that that didn’t change.
The sightings of men urinating along the road side, the crazy traffic,
and the guard outside our house are all the same.
Today was my first time back to the branch in about
three months and it was wonderful to see so many of the familiar faces that I
have come to know and love. There have
also been some significant changes there also.
While I was gone the branch presidency was reorganized and Phil was
released. That resulted in the
reorganization of almost every organization in the branch, including my release
from the Primary presidency. It was nice
to be able to sit by my husband during the meetings, something that has never
happened since my initial arrival to India, and a change I enjoyed.
Another significant change for me is my husband’s
health. It is amazing to me that someone’s health can
change so dramatically so quickly. It
was a heart wrenching time to be so far away from him and have him be so sick. He really has made progress, but he still has
a ways to go. Glad to be back together
with him. I’m sure that a lot of people
were wondering what was wrong with his wife that she wasn’t back here to help
him. I must say that I will always love
and appreciate all those people who helped him in my absence.
The final change I’ll talk about is my vision. While this change took place while I was in
the US it is still a significant change and one that I’m loving. Cataracts are interesting things. While I knew it was there and I knew I wasn’t
seeing very well, I didn’t realize how poorly I was seeing until after the
surgery. I now see the world in a whole
new light, pun intended. I still have
the left eye to do but it is not nearly as bad as my right eye was and I will
have it done when we are back in the US.
The only disadvantage I have found from my clearer vision is the clarity
with which I see all my wrinkles. That I
could do without.
Life is full of changes, some are better that
others. I’m grateful for the good
ones. It’s good to be back in the
saddle. Have a good week.
Namaste
