random thoughts

1. I went for a hike this morning. Two hours and 34 minutes. The weather is perfect (finally), and it felt great. Except at about the 2 hour mark, I decided to hike one more loop around the next set of hills. That extra 34 minutes just about did me in, especially since I forgot that it ended with a nice steep climb over the last ridge and back down into the parking lot. My legs were shaking by the time I climbed into the car.

2. I taught a lesson in seminary this morning that had an emphasis on "pondering". We talked about what that meant in our lives -- meditating, thinking, finding time to slow and quiet your life down and pondering on things of spiritual importance. We especially talked about remembering to turn off electronics and phones and stepping away from the computer to occasionally create that quiet time in their lives. Then I excused the kids at the end of the hour, changed my clothes, headed for the desert trails, turned on my MP3 and listened to music at pretty high volume for 2 1/2 hours. Surprisingly, that made me feel mentally refreshed. But I think that should worry me that I can't even take my own advice.

3. I have an odd collection of music on my MP3, including but not limited to: Village People, Fall Out Boy, Shiny Toy Guns, and the musical genius that is the 1968 classic music of the Monkees.

4. I just now got a disturbing text from Roxanne "There was just a suicide in my building at school and we all got evacuated". What heartbreak and sadness for a family today. I'm feeling upset and I don't even know anything more about it.

5. I went to my High School Reunion last month. A completely new high school has been built in recent years and along with getting to tour the new facilities, we were also able to walk through the old main school building. I wish I had taken a picture of the building. It is a 3 story concrete and brick old-style school. If it had been Phoenix, the public probably wouldn't have been allowed to walk through it without a hard had on. It has been abandoned, unable to be sold or renovated and is in extreme disrepair. But it was kind of cool to poke around with my old classmates and remember where we used to take Geometry and World History. A lot of the classrooms were filled with misc. storage and debris. There were snow blowers and filing cabinets in the little kitchenettes of the Home Ec room. I still remember sitting in on the mystical microwave demonstration of 1976. How you could cook something and take it out of an oven with your bare hands and not get burned - absolute magic!

6. Somehow, it is always fun to be back in Winslow. I lived there from age 7 until age 17. Dave was very patient while we drove around town as I was strolling down memory lane. For some reason it is important to tell him where I used to ride my Sting Ray bicycle, and where we played arcade games, and to go have lunch at the old Root Beer Stand. The house we grew up in it still beautiful. I loved that house. I wish I could share those memories with our kids. They would have loved that house and that yard too. My parents moved from Winslow before our kids were even born. They live in the beautiful community of Heber and we love to visit there, but it's not the same as taking your kids back to your home town. There is a little bit of sadness about that for me.

7. We got to hang out with our friends Terri and Blake. They are the kind of people we can be separated from for months, then sit down and start up conversations as if we hadn't been apart for a day. I love them. They are a gorgeous couple and have 4 very handsome kids too. Their "baby" is almost out of high school. I can't believe we're all getting that old.

8. We went to the homecoming football game while we were in Winslow. I was glad we were sitting by Terri. She was able to point out everyone that I should have been able to remember, but couldn't. She fed me everyone's names before they walked by. A perfect system. The evening was all the fun and enthusiasm that a solid small town sports program brings to a community. I wish our inner city schools in our neighborhoods here would get the vision of what successful extra curricular programs could do for the kids, the school and the community.

9. I have a friend that is pretty darn cool. Her family is cool, and her house is cool. My level of coolness goes up whenever I am in her house. Her house is up for a vote on a cool and popular design site. Go to this site , there is a quick and painless registration, then vote for Lezlee! (you've got to vote for her today!)

10. I don't have 10 things on my mind today, but it seemed silly to end on #9.