Dear Family,
My, my have we had an interesting month. Seems like there's a little surprise around every corner. I'm seeing an allergist/ENT in Provo and doing these allergy drops. It's supposed to be like developing an immunity to allergies. Like a vaccine, but it's supposed to take 3-5 years and I have to say so far my sinuses and throat are a lot happier! Anyway, this has meant that I have to go to Provo every so often. Now that Jared's in school all day I decided that for my last appointment I would make it early in the morning, wear my running clothes, and go running on the Provo River Parkway trail, which is only a couple blocks from the hospital/medical offices. Guess what I saw while running in Provo. An elderly couple taking their dog and their GOAT out for a walk! The goat even had its own color and leash. And yes, I stopped to pet the goat. :)
Jared's thriving at school and so sure that he knows everything. He came home last Friday (spelling test day) really mad. He only got 9 out 10 on his spelling test (his 1st non-100%) b/c he spelled orange "oronge". He has a slight stem on the left side of the "o" which he says is an "a". Actually, it looks like an "o" that wasn't closed up all the way. Then he says his teacher Miss Christensen is wrong; he really has 10/10. I told him that looked like an "o" to me and that even if he meant to write an "a", if it didn't look like an "a" that makes it wrong and that's why good handwriting is important. Then he got more stubborn, "uh-oh, mom! (insert little whine) It is an a!" His 1st 9/10 on a spelling test. He was crushed and tried desperately to pin it on the teacher. We had to take the teacher's side and he didn't like that one bit. But we had to tell him there's no way around having neat and accurate handwriting, especially on a spelling test. Not that I'm the best example of good handwriting. If we have to fill out any paperwork that needs to be legible, Ryan fills it out. For the record, from day one of practicing the spelling words at home Jared never got "orange" wrong. He just got sloppy. Speaking of handwriting, we were at a reception a few weeks ago. As we went to sign the wedding registry book (or whatever is official title is), Ryan pointed out a name a few lines above, signed with this beautiful penmanship. Ryan commented that just by looking at that handwriting you knew that person was over a certain age. Seems like that used to be the norm. I'm sure there are people that can still write like that, but it is part of a fading generation. I blame texting. I'm also wondering schools still teach cursive and expect students to write only in cursive. I tried writing a page in my journal in only cursive the other day only to discover that I can't remember more than a few letters.
Ryan is more worried about Jared because he came home from school yesterday and all he could talk about was ballet! They had an assembly today at school where the kids were exposed to ballet. He's been trying pirouettes non-stop ever since. When Ryan came home, all Jared could talk about was ballet and Ryan silently says to me, "oh no! Not the ballet!" Then Jared said, "boys can do ballet too!!!!" Ryan was not as quiet as he thought. J This is Jared telling us all about the ballet, "and today on Sleeping Beauty, the prince kissed the princess. For real life! Even though they weren't married! There were 4 of them: 2 boys and 2 girls. One played the role of Puss in Boots and a girl played the role of the nice fairy Godmother. And another played the role of Kitty Softpaws." I told Ryan not to be surprised if Jared ends up in ballet one day. His biological great-aunt (on his birthfather's side, this would be Rudy's dad) was a prima ballerina for the Stuttgart Ballet. Ryan hopes it's just a phase. Today the talk of the schoolyard from Jared is that his best friend Josh is in love with a girl named Erica. Two other girls are "in love" with Josh, but Josh only has eyes for Erica. Jared has told me his crush, but I'm not allowed to tell dad.
Ryan took a lunch break last week to visit the family history library downtown. Did you the church's library is like this Mecca for avid genealogists? Ryan loved it. He emailed me "singing" that old primary song: genealogy, I am doing it….he said it made him feel like a super sleuth even though it took 4 or 5 missionaries and several reroutings before he found the microfilm he was looking for that got him the correct date of an ancestor's birth. He says he's become very grateful to some of his ancestors for naming their children odd names. He says to me, "do you know how many John Godfrey's there are???" Incidentally, Ryan also has an aunt whose name is Sherry Keller. But I think she spells Sherry differently. Something not along the lines of the alcoholic beverage. ;) Ryan goes to another one of the High Priest's house every fast Sunday for lessons. The only trouble is they have a cat (Ryan's allergic) and even when he takes a Zertec he never makes it through without his nose running and his eyes going red. I remember we used to visit Katie and Jeff in Logan when we were all childless. We'd always spend the night. Katie and Jeff were always so nice to keep their cat locked in a different room while we were there and thoroughly cleaned the house before we came. But Ryan always had trouble anyway. I've tried to get him to see the allergist for something, but since he only sees cats once in a while he doesn't see the need.
But I digress and have wandered off on a tangent. Ryan has gotten so into genealogy that for his birthday I bought him Family Tree Maker and the book Who Do You Think You Are (the companion book to the show). He loves them both. He can upload photos and has discovered really fun new websites like findagrave.com that he visits quite a lot. They didn't have the Lehi cemetery where one of his ancestors is buried. So he went there, found the grave, took pictures of it and the cemetery (to match what other people have done) and then added his pictures to the website in case someone else in another state is looking for this grave. And now there's talk of going to the National Archives (?) in DC next time we visit Penny and maybe going to Scotland where a lot of his ancestors are from.
We've made new friends with a new couple in our ward. Jeremy and Jesse and their 2 year old, Phoebe. Btw, why is it that making friends with other couples is a lot like dating? Jeremy went on his mission to Leipzig and he is trying to teach Phoebe German. Did I already tell you guys about them? Jesse doesn't speak any German though. I sing in each of our 4 nurseries at church and when I get to Phoebe's now I always talk to her in German. I can tell she understands. Jesse's great. She's really good at crafts, something Jared really wants me to do be into, and she and I are going to make snow globes out of jam jars with Jared and Phoebe. Jared likes Phoebe and we've had them over and they invited us to their place for Phoebe's birthday. Yesterday I got to babysit Phoebe while Jesse went to a doctor's appt. It was so much fun and reminded me a lot of Jared at that age. We read together, in German and English, I talked to her in English, she played by herself while I cleaned, and I was a little reluctant to give her back to her mom when she got back.
Another German teacher found out about me and I subbed for a junior high in Orem. I was a little nervous, but it turned out to be as much fun as at the high school. I got to teach some and found out that even when I'm making an effort to speak slowly, I speak way too fast. The most common question of the day was, "how do you say slow down??" "Langsam bitte." The day after the German teacher called me to tell me his class raved about me. Mostly I think they liked Jared's German books that I read to them (1st in German, and then in English). Their favorite was "The Story of the Little Mole who wanted to know who pooped on his head." He Sigafus asked if I could sub for him from the 15-28 of this month while he goes to Denver for a foreign language teacher thing. I had to turn him down. I told him I only do this for fun, so I won't do more than a few days a month and not more than 2 in a row. And I've already committed to the 21 and 22 to cover for another German teacher. The guy/teacher was really nice about it. We joked about how I could just bring Jared in to teach with me. I was telling Ryan about that over dinner and Jared thought we were serious. "Can I go? Please???" We explained that their school is during his school, but maybe he and I could visit the class sometime. After the holidays I may take Jared out of school early to go visit one Herr Sigafus' German classes. Jared's really curious about these "students" learning German. Herr Sigafus thinks the kids would be amazed by Jared. I doubt Jared would talk to them in German. But he might translate for them. Maybe if I bribe him with Pokemon cards Jared will talk to them in German. He's very picky about talking to other people in German. Aunt Jean and Aunt Julie have tried talking to him in German, and I can't remember if he's ever even given them a ja or a nein in response.
Yesterday we celebrated Kwigi's 8th birthday! And by "we" I mean Jared and I. We took Kwigi to the dog park after school and gave him presents (one new toy and a new bag of dog treats). Last year Kwigi got a "birthday scratch" from Ryan. But alas, not this year. And for Halloween this year Ryan got to take Jared out by himself. I stayed home. Jared's goal, as he said it to Ryan, was to get "101 candies so that I can give 1 to you, dad, and have 100 for myself." When he got home and counted, he had exactly 101! Jared's really into counting. "Mom, want to hear me count by 2s? Want to hear my count by 3s? Want to hear me count by 5s? Want to hear me count by 10s?" I always know what he's learned that day even if he doesn't say it straight out. For example, yesterday while he was reading me Interrupting Chicken (great book, btw) he stopped and asked me if I knew what this particular word was. Before I could answer he said, "that's a detail, mom. Now, you have to watch for the details because authors don't just write stories like 'once there was a chicken, the end'. They put in details. Now I'll read and you put your thumb up every time you hear a detail." Ok. He starts to read, I start raising my thumb, he decides that's either too much of a distraction or maybe he isn't getting to show off what he learned, so he announces, "never mind. I'll just tell you when we read a detail." A couple other great books Jared loves: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back. They even come with instructions for making your own origami Yoda's, etc.
Incidentally, menopause sucks! After 2 wonderful years of but one side effect-difficult concentrating-my body decided that 2 mgs of estrogen a day just aren't enough. I started having hot flashes, night sweats, bloating, irritability, and trouble sleeping (probably b/c I can't cool off). My gyno had me try 3 mg for a month, then 4 mg for a month and nothing changed. You know, I am not a good patient in the conference use of the term in that you are required to have patience. I have figured out how to behave patiently but can't figure out how to feel it inside. Well, my doctor finally found something that worked: birth control! Now if that isn't ironic I don't think anything else is. When I reported that that was working wonders, a nurse called me back with a prescription for it. I told her I had a question. I asked her if I was supposed to take the placebo pills too or just skip them. She paused and then asked me, "are you trying to miss your period??" This is not the nurse I usually work with. And so Jean, Brittany, and Tammy you should know that we impatient patients are really attached to our nurses. Even more so than our doctors who are often too busy. I answered her question with, "um, I don't have a uterus or any ovaries for that matter." She apologized profusely. She'd forgotten she was talking to a patient who'd had a hysterectomy and not someone with a bad cycle. She said I can skip the placebo days.
I can't think of anything else to add about our comings and goings. I do want to thank you guys for putting up with me and my desire to force, I mean, urge you all to keep writing family letters. I know our extended family isn't perfect, that none of my aunts were/are perfect moms. But growing up I have always felt like when we are all together somehow we pull it off and everything feels as close to perfect as you could get. I can almost see how polygamy would be great when you have 6 back up moms to turn to and to watch over the kids. I always really liked the feeling of this strong extended family I could call my own; one where Grandpa truly felt like the patriarch and leader of us all. Deep down I knew the day would come when these 50 cousins/grandkids would be married and have families of their own. And then they would start their own family reunions and traditions. I don't suppose it's logistically possible to stay connected up until the day I die. It's hard enough finding time for Ryan's family, my family, Jared's birth family, and making time for our own unit of 3. That's why I just can't let the letters go. I have to see where all these bits and pieces of Barrus/Clark genes end up and what they're doing. I'll never remember every detail (especially all the names of my cousins' kids and their ages). But I'll never forget things like my nurse cousin, Jean, whose Navy patient so valiantly looked out for his crew and the submarine captain below deck; how Grandpa wrote about gardening in every letter (Even in the winter!); how funny Aunt Chris's letters have always been; and the varying styles and tones of the ways my aunts and uncles write. And now I get to experience the "written voice" of my cousins.
Please keep writing! If you do, I can stay connected to you without having to make any effort on my own to call or write everyone individually! ;) And though I write the highlights, our family isn't perfect. I'm mad at Ryan right now, but am losing my resolve to stay angry. He was mad too, but now he's trying to figure out why I'm still mad and I'm sure by the weekend we'll be getting along fine again. A few days ago Jared got mad at the store when he didn't have enough money to buy a toy he wanted and we wouldn't buy it for him. I tried to cheer him up by being silly. He turned to Ryan and said, "dad, will you tell mom to shut her mouth?" Just what every mother wants to hear! I got a letter in the mail last month. I've had enough tickets for traffic violations in the past 2 or 3 years that if I get one more in the next 2 years, I'm going to lose my license. True story. I'm now a law abiding driver and following the speed limit is driving me crazy!!! And I've decided to have my tattoo removed.
May the force be with you.
Love,
Sherry, Ryan, Jared, and Kwigi
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