There and Back Again: Week 64 Extreme COLD.

On Wednesday I took Elder Cullen to the airport. he was going to visit his two brothers and a nephew on the East Coast. The spirit had prompted him to go and do it. President Mehr let him go.

I stayed behind to hold down the fort in Carthage. It was not a heroic act. There was very little to do when it's two degrees outside and no snow falling.

The sites got closed Friday due to the extreme cold and yet we still had a couple of visitors and so I got to open up and do a tour. ALSO a sweet friend called me up and asked if she could come over and hang out. She didn't know I was alone, it was a tender mercy. We played Wingspan and had tea and snacks!

On Friday we saw there was a huge snow storm coming in for the East Coast. We were worried Elder Cullen's plane would be delayed so he hurried to the airport Friday night and changed his Saturday flight home to Friday night and flew to Chicago...where he "slept" in the airport until his morning connecting flight to Burlington where I picked him up. It was so great to have him home. That night it snowed and snowed. Sites continue to be closed, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday due to extreme cold! WOW. We've had time to deep clean, read, sew and crochet too.

I had the pleasure of doing some work for the Carthage historical society. I go in on Fridays and scan catalog cards and digitize them. I am really enjoying working with that group. They are all volunteers, working hard to preserve the small details and regular normal citizens of their town.

It reminds me of my beloved Windsor historical society. I am so glad there are people out there who care about preserving the past. A long time ago, I wrote a musical about my town to celebrate its twentieth year of incorporation. It took Windsor from 1854 when Pomo Families were the majority to present through song and dance

We had only been living in Windsor for five years. We crash landed there after 18 months of homeless nomadism with our four kids, the youngest still nursing.

Some of that time we were living out of our car and camping as we traveled from Healdsburg to Long Island, New York and back looking for work after Elder Cullen lost his job at the state when it went bankrupt. We were so grateful for our new job and home in Windsor, we sank our roots deep.

It took me a year to research everything for the musical. I really felt like I KNEW the families who worked hard to make it a good place to raise a family: The parks, the schools, the Green, etc.. We performed it and many people, especially the old timers were so grateful to be remembered. I think it's important to remember the people who went on before us; who framed our communities, families, and such with their time and effort and caring. I think our ANCESTORS want to be remembered. They are still around us, caring about us. they had hopes and dreams for their posterity too.

I would invite all of you to find your local historical society and see what you can do to help. Or get on familysearch.org and start researching your own family history. It's a game changer and way more fun than watching the news. I promise you will feel your life changing for the better as your reach out and serve around you. Have a GREAT week!