A Long Day

As the title of this update should suggest, yesterday was a really, really long day. It started at 3:11 AM, four hours after I had fallen asleep towards the end of a migraine. Sometimes when they end I am really energetic, and while not bouncing off the walls, it did take me another two or so hours to fall back asleep. I got up in time to make it to work at 8:00 for a meeting, followed by another meeting, followed by three hours on a register, which was followed by another about three hour meeting (the last one was rather fun, I'm working with some new peers over at Hogle Zoo). Shortly after my guests left, I made a much needed phone call, had a discussion with our HR manager, and then it was back on the register for about another hour and twenty minutes, give or take. Around five-thirty or so I finally made it out of the museum and over to Dick's Sporting Goods, where I finally, after four years, bought a new pair of shoes. Not just any shoes, either, but good hiking boots. Not that I hike; they are just my favorite kind of work shoes courtesy durability and good ankle support.

By the time I made it back to work I wasn't quite functioning. Unfortunately, in addition to opening I was also closing, which meant sticking around until eight...or should I say nine-thirty. It took over an hour to get everything closed and cleaned up for the day, and then finish preparing an online order to drop off at the post office. I made it home just after ten o'clock.

It didn't stop there, though. Our store is transitioning to another company, meaning that I will be working for a new company to operate it. With this outsourcing has come a rather large number of questions and concerns, leaving me stranded with at least four separate migraines over the last week. Sigh. After an hour or so I had a conversation with my dad that left me just as stressed as I had been all day. Knowing that, despite my lack of sleep and having worked over thirteen hours that day, I would be unable to sleep, I wanted to take a walk. Well, frankly, that's just not something you do at one o'clock in the morning. Not alone, at least. Instead I hoped into my new (to me) '97 Explorer and started driving.

Back when I worked in Real Estate I would occasionally drop flyers off at the properties my agents had listed for sale. They ranged far and wide, both in location and in price. One of my favorite properties was up right across from where the Draper Temple now stands. While I did like the house itself, I confess I mostly liked it for the view of the valley. It is to this neighborhood that I drove, my thoughts sluggishly and maddeningly fighting for my attention. When I finally made it up there, my favorite view had been blocked by a mansion, but I was able to park at the Temple and collect myself. The Spirit calmed my soul, and I eventually got in the car and started the drive home.

Before I got far, though, I was able to stop at what will now be my favorite spot to view the valley, the sight of a sea of lights stretched out unimpeded before me. It was here that I finally fully relaxed, and new that I would indeed be able to sleep when I got home.

It's amazing to me how both loved and yet almost insignificant I felt overlooking that incredible view. I know who I am, and I know that I am a daughter of God. I also know, however, that each light in some way represented one or many others of God's children, each with their own struggles. I hope that they also know that they have a loving Heavenly Father looking over them too.

A Legacy of Hyrum Smith

Today for our Sacrament Meeting we had a couple of guests-two descendents of Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, Jr. They gave stirring talks, speaking as though they were Hyrum and Joseph themselves. As descendents, they had also inherited several historical items. As I have taken to carrying a camera with me, I had it on hand to get the following pictures:

This is the first box that the gold plates were kept in after Joseph retreived them from Cumorah. It was amazing to be able to touch the place where the plates once rested.

These are Lucy Mack Smith's footstool and bell

These are Hyrum Smith's sunglasses. Yes, he had sunglasses. Blue ones. Apparently he also had an astigmatism, and so these have a slight prescription in them.

If I recall correctly, these were Hyrum's weapons in the Nauvoo Legion.

These are the clothes that Hyrum was wearing when he was in Carthage with Joseph. These are the clothes he was killed in. If you look closely you can see the bullet holes.

So frequently we remember Joseph's actions in the Restoration. I was glad this time to also remember his family, those who always stood by Joseph, through the very end.