What I Learned on Wednesday

Wednesday was one of those days when I learned how much I didn't/don't know and how good it is to keep working on "stuff". The day started with a load of bark/mulch being dumped in the middle of our driveway. Thankfully we had the cars already parked on the street so we avoided one major challenge there. Lesson no. 1 - try to stay ahead of the "what if's".
Then there was the quick trip to Costco to finish buying stuff for Steve and Mary Lynn's Jackson adventure. While there I saw the red velvet cake, which seemed to be the perfect way to finish off lunch at Louise's - who could resist? Evidently not me. Lesson no. 2 - do not look in the dessert cases at Costco. It is way to easy to justify buying something yummy - at least I didn't buy the pineapple upside down cake!
I had called Dwight's house on Tuesday evening and then again on Wednesday morning trying to see if we could talk with him in the afternoon while Steve, Louise and I, along with Cheryl and Lynn Styler, Paul and Mary Lynn were together, but there was no answer. I was honestly concerned. And then Dwight called me and said I had been leaving messages on Velna's cell phone for the past little while, and they don't use that phone very often, and therefore didn't know I had been calling. Lesson no. 3 - when reprogramming phone nos. into a new phone system, do not confuse cell phone nos. with home phone nos., otherwise you may start to think sad thoughts when you don't get a return phone call. Problem corrected!
When we got to Louise's, Steve and Mary Lynn were already there, having driven up from the SLC airport, with their flight arriving at 12:30. I was concerned that we had kept everyone waiting (we had a lot of the food with us), and Steve told me they had been there about an hour. Lesson no. 4 - Do not believe Steve, check with Mary Lynn.
And then, as things started to wind down, after a lot of chatting, Steve talking with Dwight on the phone, all of us talking about everyone who wasn't there, it was time to get out the cameras. Lesson no. 5 - always check the setting on your digital camera. Taking photos as though the setting is on Automatic exposure, when it is not, gives the above results (blurry photos) - and I can't go back and have a do over.
And then my almost final lesson for the day needs a little background. When Patsy Sorensen and I were visiting the first part of June (she is cousin Julian's wife), she talked about how Cindy hated to have her picture taken, and I believe she was referring to Cindy in her later years. After I looked at the photos of me from yesterday, there came Lesson no. 6 - I'm tempted to join Cindy in my lack of enthusiasm for having my photo taken. If my hair cut looks like a stack of loosely stacked gray straw, I have to either learn to accept it or change the hair cut - this lesson remains to find a conclusion, other than to say "Oh, well!".
However, the final lesson of the day came as I crawled into bed, and this is the best lesson of all. The six of us have our own families to focus on, worry about, cheer on and above all to love. And along with that, we have been blessed with a relationship that just picks up when we get together as though time and distance is non existent. Penrose Mornings has been such a great connector - we have shared memories and every now and again we have shared our struggles, as well as our joys. So my very final lesson for the day was a reminder of good things and blessings in my life that help to make it all complete. Whew! It must be nap time.