Notes from a small peninsula

This little peninsula has been busy lately! Lots of activity here in North Muskegon...Homecoming, concerts, parades, Halloween, and of course (and this is the biggest of all!) the transformation of the Deephouse into the Soelberg house! We're calling the Joel Soelberg family the "Mills Soelberg" family (after the street name they live on.) It's really amazing how much progress has been made since the closing on Friday, and I have to say that honestly I'm a little jealous...not of the work, but of what the end result will be. It has Dan and I thinking that we might have to put an addition on to our house. We love the neighborhood we live in, and don't want to move too far (especially now that our new neighbors have moved in - it's the most desirable part of Muskegon County!). We've done the math and determined that it's the cheapest way to have a house with twice the space, and big enough to fit a few more kids into. At least, that's what we're hoping. Sometimes change is good. Other times I just appreciate the joy of seeing small changes in my hometown, like the change of the seasons or someone's new garden.

To be truthful, there isn't much other news. But I've been pontificating, so at this point, the blog will change from a news report of my life to a strange (not weird!) journey into my mind...(it's easier to understand than, say, Stephen Hawking's):

My friend and former visiting teacher, Sandy Kempf, gave a wonderful talk a couple of Sundays ago about our responsibility to our fellow brothers and sisters in the church (and by extension, everyone, although we've made covenants to help our church families). It made me think of the history of our local ward and the various ways we've pulled together to help. Joel and Caity's new home teacher is Doug Cengiz. He was also the man in our ward that my dad lived with, right after both of them were divorced, until they could find lodgings on their own (strangely, they both remarried women named Pam.) I remember being somewhere around 9 years old and so homesick...but Doug always made me feel comfortable in their house, despite the fact that I must have been a big annoyance sometimes. I recall that being a deeply lonely time in my life (I had another one when I was 19 at college) and he shined out as a friend. He still is. My worry is that I haven't been enough of a friend to my ward family. I try, but who knows what influence we have? Caity called me the "ward sweetheart" (I think it was a compliment), but is it enough to just be liked by everyone? Yeah, I can make jokes, but what do I really DO for others besides that? I was thinking that one of the happiest people I know is my (now deceased) Grandma Nelson, and her life was a model of service to others, starting with her large family and extending next to her neighbors and ward family. I wish my own weaknesses didn't hamper my good desires.

I will say that having Caity and Joel with us these last few weeks has been extraordinarily good for me. It's helped me to be less selfish, more understanding, more organized (out of necessity) and more willing to extend myself. Truly, I won't look back on this time with any degree of annoyance - just gratitude that we could do anything to help them to move here! And I'll smile at our youthful excitement at new houses, fresh paint, and endless possibility.

"Time it was, and what a time it was, it was a time of innocence, a time of confidences." That's from a song by Simon and Garfunkel (of course - my goodness, what else would you expect from me?) that I discovered as a young teenager. Even now, a scant 10 years later, I marvel that I've gotten so much older, and gone through so many changes - accepted so much responsibility, gotten married, had a child, and so on. And all of my friends from then have done the same. I saw Dave Nash on Sunday - he was an original member of the MoTab - and his wife is due in 2 months. Kaleb, Megan, Caity - all married, with children. I guess time will just keep rushing by and when I get to the end, like my Grandma, what will I say? "Where did it go?" Or, "I still have so much to do!" Or, "I'm ready to go. I miss my family!" Or maybe I'll be twinkled, if it's time.

I wish I could gather all of my friends around me and relive some of those times again, but this time, we'd be covered in children...