Road to Emmaus Notes for Later

 Last summer there was a chance I was going to be speaking at a youth fireside and I had prepared these notes. So I wanted to save them somewhere in case I would have use for them in the future.

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As I was trying to come up with a topic to share with you this evening. My mind was directed to share with you my two favorite stories from the New Testament that took place three days after our Savior Jesus Christ was crucified. The first is found in Luke 24 if you want to follow along. I am going to be reading the first 33 verses. Now I want you to try and picture in your minds these events.

 Road to Emmaus

Luke 24 1-33

32 And they said one to another, Did not our ^aheart ^bburn within us, while he ^ctalked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

What does this scripture mean to you?

As a member of the Godhead one of the roles of the Holy Ghost is to confirm truth to our minds and our hearts.

The footnote reference to the word heart in this scripture is

Doctrine and Covenants 9:8

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

In a talk by Pres Eyring titled “His Spirit to be with you” he comments on these events.

https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/his-spirit-to-be-with-you?lang=eng

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/what-does-the-holy-ghost-feel-like?lang=eng

 

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We are often like the disciples. We let the worries of the day keep us from recognizing that the Savior is walking alongside us. We are quick to treat our trials as curses, instead of trusting that with God's perspective our curses may actually be blessings. May we be more willing to wait upon the Lord, and may we see things as they really are as we walk our own roads to Emmaus.

My second favorite event that is shared in the New Testament is found in John. 

John 20: 19-31

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast ^aseen me, thou hast believed: ^bblessed are they that have not seen, and yet have ^cbelieved.

31 But these are ^awritten, that ye might ^bbelieve that Jesus is the ^cChrist, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have ^dlife through his ^ename.

Philippians 4:13

 

Today was one down right crazy day. Today was D day for my 20 year class reunion. The knot in my stomach started from the time I woke up this morning. (but really the anxiety probably started when I bought the tickets to this event back in July) Would I actually overcome my fears and anxiety and go? If I was so worried about it, why was I even bothering going? I called and made an appointment to get a pedicure at 2pm this morning. I know I'm weird but I just couldn't go without getting one done. And of course, I am sure no one actually looked at my toes, which was kind of sad since they did turn out super cute. I left the house at 1:50pm. As I was going down the hill my tire pressure gauge read 7 on my front passenger side. I was like oh great, now what? I managed to drive to a gas station that was not even a mile from where I was. This was like miracle one. Yesterday my mom and I had driven to bear lake and I am so grateful the flat tire didn't happen yesterday. The gas station had a air machine so I thought I will just air up the tires long enough to get to the tire store. I swiped my credit card and couldn't get anything to work multiple times. I didn't have cash to try and pay that way so I went into the convenience store to try and get cash back. Of course, they didn't allow for you to get cash back to get quarters so I went back out to my car. 

Sitting in the ac I decided I would have to try and reschedule my pedicure to a later time but they were completely booked and said I would have to come tomorrow. Next call was to my sister to see where she was at to see if she could bring me some cash. She was ten minutes away at target. So she was going to come to my rescue. As I was waiting for her, I noticed a phone number on the air machine and called it to see if I was doing something wrong. After atleast 7 or 8 rings a guy answers and says it is likely that the swipe is bad on my card and that's why it wasn't working. So I tried again with a different card, and success the machine turned on. As I was airing my tire my sister showed up. I was able to air to about 40 and had her follow me to Les Schwab tires. After dropping my car off I was thankful she was able to take me home so that I didn't have to wait there for 2 hours for it to get done. 

Next I was able to find another nail place that I could get a pedicure at at 4pm, so that was also a blessing. Again, I know a dumb thing to most people, but literally come hell or high water I was going to get my toes done before this reunion.

So interesting side note were two promptings that I didn't recognize as promptings that I realized after the fact were. First-earlier in the week I knew I was going to want this pedicure but I kept procrastinating it and anytime I thought about just getting it on Friday, something nudged my mind, saying but what if something comes up Friday and throws off all your plans. Of course I dismissed it, thinking, that is a silly thought. So super interesting that I ended up getting a flat tire and wasn't able to make my appointment. Here is what I think. Everything happens for a reason. I think there was a reason I wasn't supposed to go to that nail place today. Maybe someone there had covid, maybe I would have gotten in a wreck on the way. And obviously there is no way of knowing what might have happened, but I am happier I never had to find out. 

So next missed prompting. After my sister dropped me off and I had this time to kill before my 4pm nail appointment, I decided to watch a show to try and distract myself for the ever growing anxiety that was starting to become all consuming about going to this reunion. I kept having thoughts like, you really should start getting ready. Do your makeup atleast, don't wait to get ready after your nail appointment, you are going to have less time than you think. But I put it off and I put it off and I put it off and just went to my nail appointment at 4. My nail appointment took an hour and I rushed home to feed the dogs and start to do my makeup. After calling my sister I found out my mom could take me back to get my car in approx 15 min. The reunion was being held up at Solitude Ski Resort starting at 6:30pm. And by the time my mom brought me back to the house to finish my hair it was already 5:30. And not that I needed to be the first one there or anything, but I didn't want to be so late that it would be dumb to even go. 

 As I am getting ready, my heart is about to pound right out of my chest with anxiety. So I stop everything and take a minute to say a prayer because I was about two seconds away from dipping into Charlie's fireworks Xanax stash. I prayed for comfort, for my anxiety to go away, for those that I see and meet to look past all the weight I have put on over the years and not focus on that but just to appreciate me for me. I prayed that those I talked with would be kind to me and that I could leave a good impression with whoever I interacted with. Immediately as the prayer ended my butterflies and the giant lump in my chest were completely gone. I am so grateful for answered prayers!!

So I finish getting ready and leave the house. It is approx 6pm at this point. Of course, I was thinking several times, why did I wait to do my makeup and hair that could have been done before my nail appointment... I don't get very far down the street before I realize two things. One I really should have an umbrella. It has been off and on raining this whole day and that would be so dumb to get drenched at solitude after all of the time I spent on my hair and makeup. And second, I could really use another application of deodorant. So I turn back around and grab those two items. I have been kind of a crazy lady in and out of the house all day today, so I am sure the dogs are like, what is going on. 

Now it is 6:15pm and I'm like well, I guess I will just be fashionably late. So I head to Solitude. I am watching my tire pressure dial read 40 for the patched tire and 48 for all the other tires. I was pretty irritated because I thought, why would the tire place not have matched the pressure in all the tires so my indicator didn't kept reading as red? But I couldn't complain because they didn't even charge me for patching the tire. I continued to watch it and thought, I guess as long as it doesn't dip below 40, I should be ok I think. As I drove, I cranked my Pandora country music station to distract myself from the upcoming events. And because of answered prayers, even though I was still nervous, my anxiety was really gone which made it so much more bearable. 

A couple items to note. First, even though I had ignored the prompting on getting a pedicure done earlier in the week, I believe I was still protected against what maybe could have happened. And even though I ignored the prompting to get ready earlier so that I wouldn't have been so stressed and so late, it did all work out in the end. But obviously could have maybe avoided additional headaches and inconveniences had I actually followed those promptings.

Additionally, I should probably address the reasons that caused my high anxiety in the first place. First, I am a total introvert with ever increasing social phobias. If it weren't for church and work and interactions that force me to interact with people, I would be a complete hermit. I have fewer close friends than I can count on both hands in my almost 38 years of life. For me, Hen, my family, and dogs are more than enough most days. Social situations and interactions with people are emotionally and mentally draining especially in large groups of people. I don't feel that I struggle in small groups, or with people that really know me. But large groups, forget it! I will literally need a day to recoup after this. 

Next reason for anxiety. I am fairly sure my exboyfriend from high school will be there with his wife. Our breakup in high school was extremely painful and left scars miles deep for years. In the last couple of months we actually reconnected to bury some hatchets, which is actually part of the reason I was even braving my reunion. Had we not patched things up, I would not have had the courage to see him. 

And obviously the last literally giant reason for anxiety, my weight. For those that are around me in my everyday life, really have no concept what I looked like in high school. A whole 120 pounds soaken wet. I didn't start putting on the majority of my weight until my college and married years. So by going to my high school reunion, I was having to visually admit to everyone (even though I knew so few people) what I had done to my body over the years. And obviously nobody wants an exboyfriend to see them looking like that. And even though we had patched some things up, of course I was still nervous to see him and his wife. What did she know about me? What would she think of me? What would he think of me? Would we all shake hands? Would there be hugs? How awkward was this going to be? So glad I don't have to worry about him reading this! LOL. And let's not forget to mention that my social crutch, Hen, could not get off work to go with me. So would I just look like a total loser going by myself?

Ok, so because life is a funny thing and timing is such a funny thing. Of course after I pull into my parking spot at around 7pm, who pulls in literally five cars away? I swear you can't make this stuff up!!!!! With everything that happened today, and note my graduating class had like 800 people in it. How in the world, did He and I arrive at the same time?? I saw the back of his head, and decided to quickly start walking through Solitude Village to get to the reunion. I am sure him and his wife were less than 20 feet walking behind me. I knew I had to trudge up a hill to get to the restaurant, and would be slow and likely out of breath, so was not ready to greet them yet. I was so grateful that they passed me and didn't notice me going up the hill. (or if they did they thankfully ignored me) I was also grateful when a set of 4 guys also passed me and continued up the hill. We all arrived to the line to get nametags. I decided to chat with the guys around me, although I didn't recognize any of them. Obviously my ex was mere feet from me but hadn't noticed me yet, so I decided to just continue to wait.  

Then I hear from behind me, "I recognize that voice." I turn around and said, "Well I guess we might as well rip off the bandaid." He gave me a hug and then his wife gave me a hug. I have to admit I was not expecting his wife to give me a hug, because honestly I really don't know what she knows about our history, maybe she wouldn't have been so quick to give me a hug... She seemed very nice and I am sure that she was. It was nice to rip off that bandaid at the beginning so that I could just enjoy the rest of the night. 

And I did enjoy myself. I talked to probably 30-40 people out of the probably 150 that were there and walked up to random people and just started conversations. My ex and I didn't have any more interactions that night, but obviously it was hard not be cognizant of where he was in the room when my eyes would scan the space. At almost 10pm and talking to so many different people, I decided I had stayed long enough and could start making my way home. As I walked down the hill to my car, it was pretty pitch black outside. I had to use the flashlight on my phone to try and not trip. The air felt so crisp and cool, that when I got to my car I opened my windows and my sunroof. And of course it had rained and when I went to backup the car, a bucket of water poured in through my sunroof onto me and the passenger seat. Sometimes I am so dumb. I should have waited until I had gone down the canyon part way before opening the sun roof....

I called Hen and my mom and recounted the events of the night. I think my mom was as worried for me as I was and I know she was relieved to hear that I had survived and that it had gone well. 

As I thought about it more and more, I decided I was really proud of myself. I don't know that I have ever even been super proud of myself in my life. I literally felt like I had climbed my emotional Mount Everest tonight. So many things had to fall in place to have made this evening possible. I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost are aware of us and are in the details of our lives. I faced so many giant fears tonight because of their help. For years I have said that you could not pay me all the money in the world to relive my high school years that ended up being traumatic and painful for me. 

And I also said that I would never attend a high school reunion in a million years. I guess never say never right?!? For years I was so terrified of anyone from high school seeing what my body looks like now. And I managed to survive the night without anyone pointing at me and laughing, ok, they may have done that in their minds, but atleast I didn't have to see it. My two embarrassing moments of the night because I am just that special... First I was talking with a couple and my earring fell off down inside my shirt and I literally had to fish it out of my cleavage...shaking my head. Second embarrassing moment, I was walking down the stairs inside the building and tripped and was luckily able to catch myself on the banister. I quickly looked around to see if anyone noticed. I think very few. I am just so glad I didn't actually fall and sprain my ankle.

I joked with Hen. I bet this is what it feels like when gay people come out of the closet. It's like I came out of the fat closet tonight, Lol. Of course Hen jokingly said, you mean the pantry? Lol. It really felt so freeing. Just showing up was having to admit what I had allowed to happen to my body. After tonight even though I am not physically lighter, I actually feel a hundred pounds lighter mentally and emotionally. And obviously the fact of the matter is, many other people had put on weight and plenty of guys were now bald and we all had aged. Of course, there were still the tiny gorgeous girls from high school who were still tiny and gorgeous, but I give them credit because they were still insanely nice to me when I talked to them. In fact, everyone I interacted with was insanely nice whether they remembered me or not. 

I didn't make any new "friends" per se, but I did actually enjoy myself just meeting people and having a reason to dress up for the occasion. At times it felt like when Hen and I have been on cruises and have just talked with total strangers. I am sure it also helped that I am still on my sabbatical so didn't have the added stress of working today before the event. I walked away learning so much about myself. I can still do truly hard things. I know I do hard things in life all the time. My job is not easy, school wasn't easy, church isn't even always easy, but this was a whole other level of hard that I was shocked I didn't chicken out on. I doubt anyone will really remember me from tonight and that's ok. Just jumping out of that airplane was accomplishment enough. 

Here is a pick of me dolled up before I left and one of my cute toes that no one probably noticed.

Beautiful pics at Solitude

Words of Wisdom

 

Catching Up

I'm not sure how I keep getting so behind. Time is flying by on this Sabbatical. Before we left for Florida I picked up a shift to sub for someone on Friday the 20th since others were picking up my shifts for two Saturdays when we would be in Florida. It was my first time subbing. I went early and studied materials and then worked on the main floor. I was super busy the whole time but enjoyed it immensely and even got extra study time during my shift. I had to pack that night and wasn't sure how I would have the energy to get everything done for this trip, but it all worked out. 

Then on Thursday, Sep 2nd, my friend Jan had invited me to do temple service with her at 10:30am but there ended up only being an appointment for her at that time, so I ended up taking an open appt at 11:30am, which worked out because I was able to spend time studying prior, that I needed.

And then last Saturday I worked my normal shift after attending my nephew Chase's football game in Holladay. On this shift I got to do new things I hadn't done before and didn't realize I would love it as much as I did. There is alot to memorize and because I have spent so much time studying am finally getting a majority to memory which makes all the difference in the world. As I am able to convert precious words to memory I am able to not be distracted and allow the Spirit to be more present because I am not focused on reading words from a paper. In our prayer meeting the Sister wrote on the board Temple Wor twice and told us to finish it. First it was finished with Temple Worship and then second was written Temple Work. It was a great reminder that it is more important for us to bring the Spirit of Worship for those attending first before we focus on the the work or tasks of our positions. I always feel such a sweet spirit in our prayer meetings. I am so grateful for them that help me to forget the world and focus on what matters.

That is another change I have noticed in myself after working in the temple these past months. My mind gets easily distracted and alot of times in the past it was work to constantly refocus my mind to what was happening at that moment when my mind would wander. I have noticed a huge change in the constant need to refocus my mind. My mind stays so much more focused these days and the world and my life is staying out more and more when I am in the temple. Refocusing can be exhausting, so I am grateful that the Lord is helping me overcome this weakness.

 

Florida or Bust

  It has been a crazy couple of days! At 1am early Saturday morning I was partially packed, beyond exhaustion from a really busy day (I had subbed for someone's shift at the temple, which was so wonderful, but so tiring) and didn't know how in the world I would be able to get everything ready for this trip and not be completely physically ill. 

I knew I had to get up at about 5 am to finish packing, get ready for the day, take the dogs to boarding by 6:30am and somehow make a 9am flight. I am so grateful for tender mercies and answered prayers. I said a prayer that I would be able to wake up on time and not be sick from lack of sleep (any amount of sleep under 6 hours, I become physically ill), get the dogs safely to boarding, that I would be able to get good sleep and make this flight. I finally went to bed.

Once I fell asleep, I slept clear until my alarm went off at 5am. And for the first time, I wasn't insanely nauseous waking up with that little of sleep. I got up, got ready, and took the dogs. I was surprised they were able to eat their breakfast that early. Usually, Oscar especially, is dead to the world at that time in the morning. The boarding place said they would be there at 6:30 sharp, and didn't show up until 6:40, so the dogs and my anxiety started to run a little high.

 I had to wait there with the dogs for about 15 min and you can imagine they were all going a bit crazy in the car in anticipation. So I took Lucy out of the car with me while I waited for them to show up. Once they came and I was able to pass off Lucy then I got Charlie out and I was like, no way am I holding on to his leash. He was so excited. So I literally opened the door to the boarding place and let him run to the back on his own. Then next was Oscar. Somehow as Oscar got out of the car my pinky finger got caught in a really bad way in his collar and leash and if he had moved an inch, my pinky would have been completely broken. I swear to you there must have been some force that made him stay completely still as I got my finger out of the stuck position. There is no reason for him to have stopped as charged with energy as he was. I know this was a tender mercy. Then I got Oscar into the boarding facility and drove home. 

The tears started to fall as I could not hold back the emotion thinking back to our last Florida trip and how Lily had died while boarding during that time. I prayed that all would be ok with our pups while we are gone for this trip. Otherwise, I don't know if I would ever come back to Florida again. I basically cried the whole way home, from that and also likely from lack of sleep, and stress.

 Upon getting home, I had just enough time to change out of my furry clothes, finish packing, and get in the car. I was grateful that our car service guy was early, since I knew we had a really tight window to get to our flight. As I was leaving through our front door, I said, Hen are you coming through this door, or the garage? I thought he said he just needed to get something from the garage but that he would be coming back through that door. So I left it open, not just unlocked, but physically open. 

It was a nice calm drive to the airport as Hen talked our drivers ear off. (Which is pretty standard). I was just anticipating getting to the airport and gate. We arrive at the airport, get checked in and after passing through security discovered that we somehow had made it with an hour before our flight would be boarding. Seriously a miracle. So we went to the Delta Lounge for breakfast.

 After eating I thought to myself that I should turn the alarm on at the house through our app. The Holy Ghost reminded me to check all of our cameras before turning it on, since when we turn it on when we are away, we always turn on the motion sensors and I needed to make sure nothing would set them off. Also would like to note that a couple of days prior, Hen had noticed that the living room camera was out of battery and had been charging it in the kitchen. That morning while getting ready for the trip, Hen had put the camera back in the living room which looks straight at the front door. This was not on my list of things to do. And this could have been easily left in the kitchen. If you think God is not aware of you, or in the details of your lives, you just aren’t paying attention enough, I am sure these things happen to you to. 

So back to the airport, and as I was checking the cameras prior to turning on the alarm, I noticed our front door was wide open. I was like what the heck!! How in the world did that happen? I quickly texted our neighbors and they ran over and closed the door and locked it for us. I am sooo grateful they were home. 

What is so weird also is that when we were pulling away from the house, I remember looking back to see if it was closed and thought I saw that it was, but probably couldn't have really seen from the angle I was at. If Hen hadn't charged that camera, if he then wouldn't have put it back, if I hadn't checked the cameras to turn the alarm on, we could have had a family of deer move into our house, a crazy amount of bugs, or been completely robbed, not to mention our electric bill would have been insane and probably would have frozen over our ac. I am so soo grateful that in my crazy daily life, others are helping us along on the other side of the veil. I am sure we make our guardian angels so tired. 

Following breakfast and that fiasco, luckily our flight was at gate A15 so it wasn't as far to walk as some of our other flights have been recently. It is worth mentioning, that if we wouldn't have had breakfast, we wouldn't have been able to eat all day. We had a connection in Atlanta of only 20 minutes between flights and didn't arrive into Sarasota until after 5:30pm. So I am so grateful we ended up having enough time for breakfast. 

Hen has a bunch of Spirit of Delta passes that we need to use, so we are using them this trip. They are different from our usual standby in that they are guaranteed seats on the flights. Luckily we both had aisle seats in coach for the long flight to Atlanta, but there was someone in the middle of us, who ended up being very nice.

I wish I was able to sleep on the plane, unfortunately I haven't been able to do that in years, so I just listened to music on my 13 year old ipod that I had gotten out and charged before the trip. This is the ipod that was the replacement of the ipod that fell to the bottom of Hen's mom's pool when we were first married. It has been so long since I used it, I was pleasantly surprised to find some of my old albums on there. All of the music on my ipod is from cd's I once owned. Anytime I have tried to move this music to my new iphones, itunes always rejects the songs since they weren't purchased through them. So I keep this old ipod and use it from time to time. All of these albums take me back to my teens and 20's as they remind me of different people and times in my life. 

The next hurdle we would need to overcome was our connection in Atlanta. If anyone has been to that airport, you know that it is huge. We literally had 20 minutes to make our connection for our flight. If our flight from salt lake had any delays we would have never made it as well. Upon arriving to Atlanta we discovered our connection gate was one gate away, you can't make this stuff up!!! Also if it had been further away, who knows if our bags would have made it with us. We arrived at gate T2 and left for Sarasota out of gate T3. I know this isn't a miracle to you, but it was to me, especially since I had go to the bathroom really bad and there was a long line to even get into the bathroom. I don't know how I would have ever made that connection. 

Once on the flight, Hen had an aisle and I the window. Hen didn't want the middle person to be miserable between us so he took the middle. I hated that Hen had to be in the middle seat, he was more than entitled to have his aisle seat, and had  more than earned it. I think because he works for Delta, he didn't want a customer of his company to feel like they had a bad flying experience. The guy ended up smelling really bad of garlic, so I'm kind of glad he wasn't in the middle of us. While Hen and I were squeezed in tightly to the wall of the airplane, it was nice to have him by my side. We are used to traveling sitting next to each other in first class, which by the way, this experience definitely made me really appreciate when we fly first class.

 It has been a while since we have flown coach with someone in the middle seat, I had almost forgotten how different it was. But in all reality I really don't mind coach if there is no one in the middle seat. We did fly coach during covid but since the airlines wouldn't put anyone in a middle seat at that time, it was really nice. I understand the airlines need to make money but I just wish that was a permanent change. Now don't get me wrong, I have spent many hours in middle coach seats flying standby over the years because flying is so cheap that way, but in the last few years Hen and I have been just buying first class seats with Hen’s employee discount to get around. Luckily this flight was only an hour long and we finally arrived in Sarasota.

Of course I was so happy to see our bags come on the baggage claim belt since we had such a tight connection and we quickly got our rental car with no issue, a black Nissan Armada this time and headed out to Long Boat Key to get into our VRBO. 

Ok-so why did we pick Long Boat Key Florida for this trip? First this week was originally supposed to be our Viking Norway Fjords cruise flying round trip into Amsterdam. Because of covid, our cruise was cancelled and we had to make other plans. The email from the cruise line mentioned something about having issues with the local governments of our port stops. Which, I completely understand. If I lived in Norway, I wouldn’t want cruise ships coming in and bringing more covid, especially since the cruise line was not requiring the guests to be vaccinated. Which is a complete mystery to me. So anyway, here we are and we needed a plan B since Hen had already taken work off for those days and the dogs were already scheduled to board and I would be on sabbatical. When I was researching places all over the world like figi, bora bora, anywhere really, so many places wanted you to quarantine even if you had the vaccine, or you couldn’t travel to their country unless you were a citizen or a family member of a citizen. So then we decided we will just need to stay stateside for this trip. Originally, we were going to fly into San Francisco and drive up through the redwoods and stay in Oregon. Hen kept dragging his feet on this trip so eventually all the places we wanted to stay in Oregon were fully booked plus the rental car was going to be psychotically expensive since there is a shortage. 

So back to the drawing board again and we decided on Florida and we decided on Long Boat Key because this is a place his Grandma and Grandpa 4 (Becker), came a few times and Hen had also visited them on these trips over the years. Hen always tells me Grandma liked the beach and Grandpa liked the lake. So the compromise was that they would spend time in the summer at the lake house in upstate New York (which was actually built by Grandma’s dad) and spend time during the winter in Florida at the beach. Grandma and I are so alike. I definitely love the beach more than the lake, but I do love all bodies of water really since I love to swim so much.

Additional side note, this is the first time I have ever stayed in a VRBO (vacation rental). After putting down a deposit a few months ago I had a horrible dream. I dreamt that when we arrived to the VRBO, the owners had left their 4 dogs in the bathroom that we would need to take care of and that the there was no elevator. One of the dogs was a Great Dane and another a Chihuahua. And I had to take all four dogs up and down 6 flights of stairs to go to the bathroom the whole trip. Now many of you are going, Kara wouldn’t you love that? You love dogs? The answer is NO! I do love my dogs but they are actually a lot of work, this current pack. They get me up all hours of the night wanting this or that or early in the morning, ok let’s face it, it is usually Lucy. I wish I could just let them access the dog door, but after the neighbors called the cops on us, I don’t feel like we are allowed to have that freedom. As a result I rarely wake up on my own at home. Also at home because they can’t just be left to come and go from the backyard as they please, we literally schedule everyday around blocks of time. Ie don’t ever want to crate Lucy more than 4 hours etc. So part of my vacation is a break from our everyday routines with the dogs. So yes this scenario was a nightmare. 

After arriving to the VRBO, and checking the bathroom to find it free of dogs, we discovered we were staying on a slice of paradise. The view from this sixth floor of this condo was breathtaking. White sand beaches as far as the eye could see and almost no one on the beach. And being on the sixth floor as we sit on the large patio we have seen large groups of pelican’s fly right in front of our faces and then go dive in the Gulf for food. I really couldn’t have picked a better VRBO. I imagine staying here again in the future. The elevator does work also btw. 

After arriving, Hen spent some time on the phone with his cousin Christian, helping him to get a ticket out here for a couple days so that he could enjoy the extra room we have here and I fell asleep quickly on the couch. When I woke up, Hen had stripped down to his underwear already. I was like Hen, we haven’t even had a meal since 8am this morning, what you are doing? Let’s go get dinner. It was 8pm at this point. So we head out in search of some sustenance. Hen remembers a pizza place he liked and head in that direction. We pulled up to it in this dark strip mall. It didn’t even look open. There was one neon sign in the window. Not even a sign that said open. Hen told me to go see if the door would even open. I walk over and open the door. They were, in fact, open. Solorzanos Pizza. http://www.nobodymakespizzalikewedo.com/ On their pizza boxes stacked high was written #1 on trip advisor for 3 years, which makes your mind think (which 3 years?). But they were claiming to be New Jersey style pizza, which you know caught my attention. Growing up in New Jersey for the time I was there in my early years I fell in love with lots of food on the east coast. Pizza was definitely one of those items. The pizza in New York/New Jersey, is so hard to duplicate anywhere else. I swear the humidity definitely plays a role in the dough. So Hen and I got a few slices, and even shared a lemon Italian ice which was the perfect soft consistency. That took me back to when we would visit the Jersey Shore when we would get lemon Italian Ice and fresh soft salt water taffy and even see them pulling it in the window. The pizza was good as well and I am sure we will eat here atleast one more time before we leave. The names of Hen’s slices were Hoboken Heart Attack and Bada Bing. I had the Siesta Fiesta and the Buffalo chicken pizza.

After eating we walked out to the car and a gentleman that had come in right as we were leaving came running out. “Mam, you left your purse in here.” I swear if my head weren’t attached I would lose that too!!! Hen just shook his head. My level of absentmindedness really is astounding, I admit it. I actually had my wallet in hand, but had forgotten that I had brought my purse in there with me and had hung it on the back of the chair. *Shaking my head*

It was approximately 9pm at this point and since the condo was empty of food, we decided to run to a store. We drove over the bridge to Bradenton and happened upon a Winn Dixie that happened to be open and much closer than the Walmart recommended back at the pizza place. Once we got there we literally had 30 min to get everything we wanted before they kicked us out. It was a bit of a super market sweep scenario, but we were able to atleast get most of what we needed for the next 24 hours. I knew Hen was tired and grocery shopping was the last thing he wanted to do, so I was grateful Hen went with me so that we wouldn’t need to shop on Sunday. I am sure that seems so silly to some of you, but I have seen blessings in our lives when we have tried our best to make the Sabbath a special day that is unlike the other days of the week because it is the one day we can devote to worshipping our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ and have a day of rest.

After our super market sweep we headed back to the condo and when we finally fell asleep we were out like lights.

It was so lovely to wake up Sunday morning to a gorgeous view of the water and frequent flybys of Pelicans. I woke up many times throughout the night but would quickly fall back asleep as I realized there was nothing to get up for. 

After getting up and cleaning the up the condo since it looked like a bomb hit it, since we literally dropped everything when we arrived Saturday evening, I grabbed my laptop and headed out to the patio. Even at 9am, it is 85 degrees and an insane amount of humidity, but the sound of the waves and watching the birds was music to my ears and a happy sight. 

I watched all the birds flap their wings a few times and glide. They seriously don’t know how good they have it. Of all the animals in the world, it is so incredible that they get to fly. I am sure they take it for granted since they don’t know any other existence, but to be able to go anywhere in this entire world and just about any height all with the flap of your own wings is truly incredible. 

A few people started to make their way out to the water. One particular couple looked like Hen and I’s doppelgangers. I chuckled and watched as they entered the water, thinking that is probably what Hen and I look like doing the same thing. 

I opened up my laptop and just started writing. Week two of my sabbatical almost complete and I feel like I have nothing but time, to even sit here and type up this novel of the last 24 hours….

After Hen got up, our church over zoom was about to start. Today is the first day they are putting Sacrament back to the beginning of the meeting, instead of the end. They had an opening prayer, and a sacrament song and then paused the video. Hen prepared the Sacrament in the kitchen for us to take. I played the song “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (they will always just be MOTAB to me). As the music started to play and Hen broke the bread, I felt the Spirit fill the room and the following scripture came to my mind Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Silent tears dropped from my eyes as I thought about our Savior and the words of the song being sung. 

After Hen administered the Sacrament, I returned to the youtube live recording of our Sacrament meeting at home. How nice it is to be able to travel and not have to pack church clothes, but still get to attend Sacrament meeting virtually and I am so grateful for Henry being a worthy priesthood holder that can administer that Sacrament for us. I feel so blessed.

One of my cute young women gave the first talk on the Holy Ghost, one of my favorite subjects, and she did a wonderful job.

A quote the stood out to me from the returned missionary that gave her talk was “Nothing changes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes everything!” How true that is! The Gospel of Jesus Christ has truly changed so much in my life. I have gotten to a point, where I truly couldn’t live without it.

Well that is it for now. I think I will go take a walk on the beach.