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Show Revit - Wednesday, March 19, 1986 - Page 2 ' c&mment ) Time flies . . . when you're looking back p.g. blab By MARCELLA WALKER There is an old saying which goes : "Twice forever when it is still ahead but only a clock tick looking back". We realized the truth of that statement during the past week. After 18 months in Uruguay our son returned from his LDS mission there. When he was called on his mission, the prospect of not seeing him for 18 months seemed such a long time. Even as the days, weeks, and months went by, it still seemed a long time. But after he was home and we had hugged him several times and were sure he was home safe and sound, the past 18 months seemed like they had gone by rather quickly after all. For about the past four weeks, since we knew he would probably be coming home on March 14, we had been in a state of perpetual ex-citement. Our girls, who never paid much attention to him before he left on his mission, were very excited all of a sudden to see this big brother who had been gone such a long time. I have watched other mothers as they eagerly awaited the return of their sons or daughters from missions, and suddenly I was very aware of the feelings they had felt. In some ways it seemed Friday, March 14, would never get here. When the airplane landed at the looked just the same. Just as skinny as when he left. Just as handsome. JUWoauldayou believe the plane was a Because of that few minutes early? some of those coming to see him arrive came after he was already hugged several times. There was so much to say, wanted to talk at the same everyone time But it will take weeks and maybe longer to hear all the stones and relate the things that happened while he was away. One of the first things a returning missionary has to do, after seeing of course, is to the stake president, get some "civilian clothes. I remember when Jerry came home from his mission. It was years before he would wear a long sleeved shirt again. Saturday was a shopping spree for new shirts, Levis and shoes. He sent home his most used missionary shoes a few weeks ago. They were split down the backs, the soles were worn to the nub, the sides were open and the soles had parted from the toes. Early in his mission he sent home a beautiful sweater for himself. We hid it well so that the girls would not wear it as they were threatening to do. Now we cannot find hide nor hair of that sweater. The same thing with his check guarantee card. He received a ii one from the bank a few months - S and as we did not send it to him ti fear it would be stolen in the d down there, we put it in a safe f til he returned. We can't find? f either. There have been so many p, for him to see since he got back t grandparents and all of his frienA t He has had phone calls from forn)f. missionary companions. He hadlj-of letters to mail for missionaries' Uruguay and he has packages t deliver. . His homecoming is Sunday ltl. then the hard part begins - lookit for a job and deciding about coK i The excitement of his arrival 4 hardly diminished yet. It is so to have him home. Yet, as parents, we know that i he is a man. The future will take hie to new horizons and he win w always be at home where we ct give him a hug and talk to him alln, time. The mission was a preparatif. time for us. All of the babies mv leave the nest and going away t0! mission or away to college, thouf hard to face, is just the beginning. But for now we are glad he j home. We are enjoying his company and hearing about his experiences We'll cherish this time as long as can. Salt Lake Airport, my heart really began to pump and the butterflies in my stomach all took off at once. It only took moments before people were walking up the ramp from the plane and we eagerly scanned each face, hoping we would recognize one right away. The plane emptied and the crew began to come out. I looked questioning at Jerry, the fear beginning to show that perhaps he was not on the plane after all. But then, there was a tall, stringbean of a guy, coming into view lugging a very heavy bag. He Popsicles to get 'em it, 'Jaws' to get 'em out grassroots 4' .:. .. .'a " ' ij " I..........A Copyright e;1986 Becky Grass Johnson If you ever want to watch a neighborhood full of kids scatter, simply yell "bath time" out the front door. If you are really serious about luring the kids into the tub, I'd suggest you call out "popsicles" instead. (Every child within earshot will be on your front doorstep in seconds! ) My sister actually had a child who didn't like to play in the sandpile because it got her hands dirty. (I always wanted one like that.) I insist that any child who lives at my house will receive a bath once a week whether they need it or not! Kids can give you every argument under the sun why they shouldn't bathe. You've probably heard it all before: "If I bathe too often it will kill off all the good germs on my body. Then there is nobody to fight off the bad germs and I will get sick." By the time your child smells like a cross between a wet dog and the bottom of the clothes hamper the war is already over. Any good by BEC KI GRASS JOHNSON The protests begin that it isn't time to get out. It doesn't matter that their toes and fingers look like wrinkled prunes or that there is soap scum on the water an inch thick. (I finally resort to playing the theme music to Jaws and scream "Shark!") No matter how many clean towels we own, there will always be a fight over the one Donald Duck beach towel we own. I tell them to just germs count their blessings. By the time I left have joined up with the other side! I used to think that the trick was to make bath time more exciting and fun. I've thrown in money and taught the kids to bob for pennies. I've put a food coloring in the water. (So what if the kids are green for a couple of days? At least they are clean.) I've gone through countless boxes of Mr. Bubble and tossed in half the toy box. Once I finally succeed in getting them in, it is all I can do to get them out. They like to fight over the sponges and scream that the water is too cold. One yells that the three year old is eating the soap again, and another skrieks that they have shampoo in their eyes. And when I mention that it's probably time to get out and dry off, everyone bursts into tears because they haven't had enough playtime. "All right," I relent, as I look at the puddles standing on the floor, "but no more splashing water over the sides of the tub." Their solemn eyes meet mine with promises that there will be no more tidal waves. As I close the door behind me one of Ihe kids yells, "Cowabunga! Surf's up!"" " I go to the linen closet for three clean towels, a mop and my galoshes. It is time to drain the bathtub. jump in the shower I m usually leu with a clean washrag to dry off with. (Two on a good day!) The worst is yet to come. I hide the behind my back and grab the kids in a sneak attack. As I clean out their ears, they produce screams that sound like I am performing brain surgery. They threaten to call Social Services and report me for child abuse. They indignantly inform me that Mr. Rogers says never to clean their ears with anything smaller than a washrag. It can damage their hearing. I tell them that they are packing around enough dirt to grow a 10 pound squash and Mr. Rogers can hang it in his ear. Bath time is over and a line of pink and wrinkled angels stand before a tub that is filled with sludge and is going to need a good sand blasting. There has got to be an easier way to clean children. I'm hoping that someone will invent a contraption that resembles an amusement park ride. After you strap the kids in their seats it would run them through something ' similar to a carwash. For $1.50 you could wash the whole family. It would be money well spent. In the meantime maybe I'll just Scotchguard the kids! We need to bind those family ties Haddock who was the editor's column fjjfe fry-- 'By MARC IlMMOCK My cousin died last Thursday in Provo. He was 61. His name was Rusty. As far as I know, we have never met. With all the talk of the importance of extended families, no one ever addresses the families that are over extended -- as this one. Rusty Haddock was the son of my father's oldest brother, Don. And my father was the youngest of nine brothers. I'm his youngest son. That puts a lot of distance between this cousin and myself. I knew Uncle Don well enough. He lived in Paris, about 10 miles from my home. My father used to tell me about how his older brother had been blinded in an accident, and went on to earn a law degree despite his handicap. Dad felt very strongly about maintaining those family ties. . I would see Uncle Don, and my father's other brothers quite often, when we'd get together in frequent family reunions. And I know my uncles quite well. In fact, Rusty Haddock may well have been at more than one of them. like me. That caused us both some grief. Once, the mail carrier brought me a Woody Woodpecker puppet that my cousin had ordered. My mother had a hard time convincing me we should take it to Uncle Don's house, since they had paid for it. I was little, and that didn't mean much to meat the time. Ed moved to Big Piney, Wyo., and started his own grocery store. The last I heard, he owned a store in Rock Springs and, according to the obituary for Rusty, he's still there. In fact, most of the cousins moved away. That's the curse of many of the small farming communities settled by the Mormons. Farming can only support so many people, especially in a place with a climate like Bear Lake Valley. They're great places to rear families, but poor places to stay once you've been reared - and most of family members scattered. Most of my uncles stayed in the valley. Some moved to Logan or Idaho Falls or Boise. Most of them stayed in the valley. But their kids spread from the east coast to the west taking the un-common name with them. As a result, I've found Haddocks in lots of places you wouldn't expect them to be. When I worked on a construction magazine in Salt Lake City, I had to read newspapers from five states - and even came across a making preparations to become a Catholic nun. Whenever I visit a big city, anil that's not often, I look in the telephone book for Haddocks. don'i find very many. I knew there were Haddocks nearby. They are cousins of sob sort, but this oversized extended family of mine overwhelms mi After all, 1 have a hard time keeping in touch with my two brothers. So I knew I had relatives living nearby because we were listed next to each other in the telephone book. But I never got around to i figuring out just who they were. I've been tempted to make i telephone call, or just drop by fora second to say hello - and make thai family connection. But I find it hard to ...approach strangers for am reason, even when we share a name and a heritage. So I didn't. It wasn't until I read the obituary in Sunday's paper that I learned L.D. Haddock was, and felt the loss of family, even though the loss was distant. It's not hard to understand ho grandparents and great grant parents who have died can fade into obscurity, when we allow living relatives to drift so far apart ins short a time. And I think it's probably time started knocking on a few doors, ad getting to know my family again. of relatives, but I never did get the hang of who most of them were. I lived in a small town, in a small But I was the youngest child of the youngest brother - and a lot of my cousins had kids older than I was. There were just too many Haddocks to keep them all straight. All the Dunns on my mother's side of things didn't help any. (Mom had eight brothers and sisters, too, and she was the youngest of those.) I grew up knowing that I had a lot valley, and the family memoers wnu stayed close to Bear Lake were familiar faces, just like everybody else. My father owned one of the few grocery stores, and his brothers shopped there. , In fact, Rusty's brother, Ed, worked in my father's grocery store, and I knew him well. Ed had a boy named Mark, just Ambulance responds to 32 calls last month The Pleasant Grove Ambulance and First Response made two more runs in February than they did for the same month one year ago. The Association reported that 32 calls were made during the month. There were 30 runs the previous year. However, the total calls for February were down from January when 45 calls were handled. In a breakdown of the calls for the month there were 11 for medical reasons, five for cardiac problems, four vehicle accidents, 11 transfers and one fire call. A total of 27 patients were transported during the month. Of the total, 22 were in Pleasant Grove, one was in Lindon, one was in Cedar Hills and eight were in the county area. Forty-seve- n per cent of the calls had response from both the am-bulance and First Response while 38 per cent were ambulance only and 16 per cent were First Response only. In addition, 58 per cent of the runs were in the daytime and 42 per cent were at night. People, Politics & Policy We can do it if you do Congratulations, Lindon. The new park addition will be beautiful, and will take care of what has been an eyesore for years. If some families and individuals in Lindon took up the cause of donating a tree per family to help with the landscaping, the fans and citizens could be in the shade in no time all wear blue and white. We We all love the "G. ; come from the same families. share the same police. We share same fire department. We much in recreation. We share same library. When you come to think of it, isn't much we don't have in mon, except our city name. ' By E. MARK BEZZANT Point well taken. Job well done. Congratulations, Lindon. Don't let them go to pot. Good luck on the second 50. Point well taken. Gayle Judd appeared before the city council recently and made a point that is worth repeating and, for that matter, was well taken. The point was that government entities should work together and share public facilities. Counties should work with cities. Departments should work with other departments. Colleges should work with high schools. Cities should work with schools. Federal people should work with state people and, of course, vice versa. The point is that we should maximize the use of our public facilities for the people's benefit. Those who have worked very long in the public sectore realize there is definitely a problem. Gayle's specific illustration was in she case of why the taxpayers of Pleasant Grove should have to support two libraries. Why shouldn't the school and city work together to have one really fine library? In this case, the schools were most cooperative. For reasons explained by the Mayor, the council chose not to join libraries at the high school, where a new library is to be built. Why should we build new public facilities for city things when the schools sit idle in the evenings and during the summer? Why should the county have a fire department when cooperation with the cities would do? Why should the city maintain two pieces of equipment when one would do if the people cooperated. Why four sewer plants when one will do, if we work together? The key is working together. Job well done, Becky Grass. No one told her it couldn't be done, so she went ahead and did it. Becky took on the underpass project single- - handedly, saying that it was about time the perennial eyesore was cleaned up. For years people have complained and complained and complained. Thanks to Becky, the city and state of Utah are cooperating and this year the underpass will be cleaned up and landscaped. I wish more individuals and families would do the same thing. The next time you go to say, "Why-doesn'- the city do . ?" stop and say, "Why don't we as a family take this project on?" The Bratts did, and the results: have been marvelous. Becky Grass did, and the results will be stunning. The Larsens did, and now we have a beautiful flag pole at the cemetery. The Jane Robinson family did, and now the old bell rings at the Pioneer Museum. You can do the same. Now just DO IT. ; Don't let them go to pot. After the sewer went into Lindon, they probably had the best roads in the state of Utah. Lots of roads were brand new. Don't let them go to potholes. Good luck on the second 50. Kin Gillman and his lovely bride of 50 years just had their 50th wedding anniversary. Over the past 50 years the Gillmans have raised a fine family and are helping raise the next generations of Gillmans, and so on and so forth. Seeing their announcement in the paper reminded me of how much a part of Pleasant Grove Lindon is. In fact, it wouldn't bother me if the two towns joined up some day. In many ways they have operated as one, except for the lines we call limits - city limits that is. We attend the same schools. We feasant (Sroue BtuW ISSN No. U.S.P.S. No. Published weekly except for Thanksgiving and Christmas by Newtah.W 11 South Main Pleasant Grove, Utah 82 Telephone Numbers Advertising & Circulation. 756-- ; News. 7,I Publisher Brett H.BfflJ Editors Marc Ha MarcellaWaW Subscription price $12" per '" Second class postage paid at Pleasant Grove Post Office Postmaster: Send address ch"" P.O. Box 7. Amerkan Fork. UUhWJ ilflrAvoid the tax bite. LJ IPIUS FDIC isnder (System 1 ( IR'W ! PREGfTHOOTERS: PLEASE DONTSMOEtE! K you are pregnant or planning a family, here are three good reasons to quit smoking now: 1 . Smoking retards the growth of your baby in your womb. 2. Smoking increases the incidence of infant mortality. 3. Your family needs a healthy mother. Please don't smoke for your baby's sake. And yours. VAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY8 Time to plant & fertilize! 4" Pansies 75 ea. Flat Roses (2 gallon pot). . . . Primroses u 1 JtllR 6" Foliage 3 4rM (standing or hanging pots) VjMp Cascade Shadows mf Garden Center - 383 Li Am" Forki 756j!! 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