At attention

I am learning much this month about being attentive and ready to jump in with my time when needed. Emma's involvement with her ballet studio's production of The Nutcracker certainly underscored the value of time -- particularly with the requirement that parents (that's me!) spend 10-20 hours behind the scenes to make the show happen. Yet this was time I could manipulate. I knew I had a commitment to chaperone a group during Tuesday's rehearsal and performances Thursday, Saturday morning and Saturday evening. Wednesday's rehearsal was the lone day to take pictures. I attended Friday. That meant I was gone after 10 for five nights straight. Although I had dinner to serve those five nights before I left, I needed the rest of the family to step up with clean-up, homework and bedtimes. They did. I shuffled piano lessons, somehow getting nine students in during the week. I had to delegate some of my church responsibilities, but I planned ahead and things worked great. (I'm not counting any laundry success, however.)

I actually enjoyed myself! This was surprising, because our last Nutcracker go-round three years ago did me in. I did not like it. At that time a couple of bragging mothers put my daughter down. They made sure I knew their daughters were in higher dance class levels, never mind that all our girls made the same audition. The 2011 week physically depleted Emma. I wasn't keen on doing it again, especially with her higher academic stakes as a 16-year-old. 

Another shadow was that Elise also tried out but didn't make it, a repeat scenario from 2011. (They didn't try out in 2012, and neither made it last year.) Elise's heartbreak this time was intense. Emma was cast in the same dance as three years ago, so neither of my girls feel like they have made much progress in the studio. 

I took my cue from Emma, however, whose positive attitude about the production made me set aside my own misgivings. I would not be bothered by the rare snooty mom! I would find the good! It's amazing how this decision for the current Nutcracker forcefully brought back uplifting memories from the first one: like seeing the gentle patience from a high-school-aged mouse dancer with the young girls who flocked around her in hero worship; and of course, sharing in Emma's enjoyment.

Staging rehearsal. Look at those fingertips!

I'm so glad I got to spend this time with Emma again. It was a better experience because of my wish to make it so.

By Nutcracker week I'd had many pulls on my time this month, some scheduled, some surprising. I had a big church meeting on Elise's birthday Nov. 6 that I also delegated so I could be with her. The next day a dear friend in my ward, Kris Gibson, passed away, and I felt I needed to visit some of our neighbors in person to tell them. It took far longer than I expected, but I was glad I did. Preparing for her funeral was a labor of love. Then, I wanted to recognize the first anniversary of the passing of a woman's husband. I failed to get a gift, flowers or a card. It wasn't as grand when I simply called her and left a voicemail message but the important thing was to let her know I remembered. On another day a woman told me of someone she knew struggling to feel accepted at church. I thought about this sister for days, ultimately deciding to take her a note during the week letting her know I value her. It was an hour before church when I finally made it to her house. A family member answered and offered to call her to the door. With my car running and a child inside who needed to be dropped off to a meeting, I declined the invitation and asked the family member to deliver my note instead.

I sorely regretted it.

I couldn't believe I passed up on the opportunity to give of my time. To give of myself.

So I look at these pictures and see not just soldiers, but a paradigm shift brought to light as I spent time supporting them. I'm glad to have such a vivid association with my new commitment to freely give in the moment, to not catalog all I could be doing instead. To make the most of it, and be happy.

My birthday fell during Nutcracker week. I had four different chaperone assignments, but fortuitously I got to be with Emma's group on my birthday. Earlier in the day my sister-in-law Brooklynn came to Elise's choir class to sing even though she was up to her eyeballs preparing to move. It meant the world to me. Brooklynn blew them away, as I knew she would. (Click here for a clip from her performance in Hairspray.) Elise positively glowed in the attention. Seeing someone give time to my daughter and make her smile was the best birthday present ever.

These pictures on stage are from the Wednesday dress rehearsal. Emma is second from right.

By Clara

As Drosselmeyer issues commands.

These two pictures of take-off and landing are a second apart, and I missed the air in between. Shoot!

Feedback from their teacher Bethany Boster, second from left, after the first performance.

Emma unleashes her bun. She didn't get my "I Dream of Jeannie" reference. 

Friday: Grandma Hatch, Emma with Red Soldier teddy bear, Aunt Katie, Elise. Oh, look. It's the men's bathroom! My parents and friend Nora and daughters came Saturday matinee, and another aunt and two cousins came Saturday night. Thanks for supporting us, despite the photographic proof. (Blasted battery!)

Friday: Cousins Josie and Amelia swooped unto Emma as soon as she came out. 

Saturday matinee before heading to stage. Emma is in back row, second from right. 

I love to spell the temple

I'm not the first person to look for alphabet letters in the architecture of the temple, but I got excited doing it, and that's all the matters. I crave boosts of creativity now and then, along with the restorative effect of actually accomplishing something. I drink that elixir about once a decade.

We went to grounds of the Salt Lake Temple to look for the letters of our name as a  family home evening activity.

See and ye shall find ...

I've walked around the walls of this temple many, many times. Searching with real intent, this trip, made latent letters pop before my view. We frame our thinking. We see what we want to see.

" ... for the Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

I set out to find HATCH, of course, but the discovery of an ornate M in a fence and P in the leg of a wrought iron bench pushed me to find the other letters to spell my friends' (short) last names. Each friend was also married in the Salt Lake Temple.

We didn't have much time, and the light was fading. T was the hardest to find. Sure, the perpendicular lines were easy to spot in sidewalks or closeups of bricks, but I wanted these images to be immediately identifiable with the Salt Lake Temple.

I chose to frame the door. Eh, it maybe requires a bit more imagination, but I like it. I like how its weight anchors the middle of our name.

My favorite shot, the first letter, came last. Jeff had already retrieved the car from the parking lot and come back to the street, waiting for us to leave the square. It was a bright summer evening when we arrived. At departure, dusk, the temple lit up, and the neighboring visitors center windows framed and reflected the spire beautifully.

But only if you happened to be looking.

This is another H. Or. I. These doors! They are gorgeous. I want to go back when I have lots of time to look for all of the letters. The doors are ripe with possibilities. I bet I could find the entire alphabet in closeups of the door alone, as with this letter r:

I did not alter my photos to highlight the letter outlines, so for some you may have to squint or say, "Oh, yeah, now I see it." I was very deliberate with the collages. I didn't want images adjacent to each other to be too similar. In HATCH, although the C and second H both come from the temple walls, the C is a tighter shot. These two images also came from two different sides of the temple; one in shadow, the other in the bright setting sun, which provides color contrast. When a name had two of the same letter I led with the one that most obviously represented the character. To train the eye and mind, I guess.

This is the picture I gave to my friend, whose last name is DOPP. I wasn't sure if these letter images evoked the Salt Lake Temple specifically on their own, so I included a shot of the famous silhouette.

This one was for my friends the MAIR family. (Or, make that MAIr.) Same door shot as the T and P, different cropping.

I challenge you to look for the alphabet in architecture, too, but with a warning: you'll start to see letters everywhere!

Pineview

I'm throwing these pictures out here for my friend's sake. Click away, Nora!

We had a delightful time at Pineview Reservoir on Aug. 12. We took our neighbor Josh and joined Nora, her six children, and some of their friends. The weather was perfect: warm without being oppressively hot nor eye-gougingly bright. Downright pleasant. We stayed all afternoon. On the way home, we hit strong winds on Hwy. 89 that buffeted the car and sent debris crashing into the windshield. It cracked. The kids laughed and yelled in unison, "Whoa!" It was a scare that thankfully ended as soon as it began. The sky now pouring water, we turned off the highway into our neighborhood and a car pulled sharply out of a side street in front of us. Then lightning and thunder banged into each other. "Wow! Three near-death experiences in one trip!" Josh exclaimed. Glad we're such thrilling company. 

Before that, the most exciting part of the outing was when baby Mckay blew out his diaper, and Nora didn't have another one. She is thoroughly unflappable, that Nora. Samuel, less so. I waded into the lake up to my chest with my camera so I could capture the kids' jubilant faces. Samuel scolded me, "Don't take my picture when I'm almost drowning!" Ok. I love summer's shift on priorities.