Dear Family, Hannah vowed to Crystal earlier this month that she would never allow her to live in a nursing home. (The vow reportedly did not mention anything about me.) In addition to her full-time job at the Utah State Hospital, which she loves, Hannah also occasionally pulls shifts at a private nursing home, which…
Vol. 23, No. 9
Dear Family, In keeping with what is perhaps America’s most universal and inescapable rite of passage, Crystal opened her AARP welcome letter this week. She doesn’t turn 50 for another month and seems unperturbed by the whole thing. I mention it here only because I know it will make my mother feel old, even though…
Vol. 23, No. 8
Dear Family, I was reminded this week that I don’t have a very good memory. I had forgotten, for example, how excruciatingly long it takes to drive across Nebraska. Driving across Montana, which we did last week, takes longer (Montana is nearly twice the size of Nebraska — I looked it up) but the trip…
Vol. 23, No. 7
Dear Family, July began with a quasi-physically-distant Independence Day visit with our friends the Eskelsens in Fairfax County, Virginia. The visit was prompted in part by our affection for the Eskelsens and in part because the Fourth of July is best celebrated away from the strictures of Montgomery County, Maryland. Everything is illegal here, including…
VOL. 23, NO. 6
Dear Family, “Stay positive. Test negative.“ That’s what the charming, unmasked older woman I didn’t recognize said to me from the now completely worn-away grass next to the Sligo Creek Trail as we ran past one another earlier this month. While the stranger’s second suggestion is not entirely within my control, I’ve decided that her…
Vol. 23, No. 5
Dear Family Not counting last Saturday’s 90-second flirtation with the still-frigid Atlantic Ocean, it’s now been 79 days since I last swam. While I’m reasonably certain I still remember how to do it, it depresses me to think that I’ve undoubtedly lost any semblance of ability to do it efficiently. The closest I get to…
Vol. 23, No. 4
Dear Family Forty-seven days have passed since I last went to the office. And 44 since the girls set foot in school. I can’t speak for the four other people living here, but I don’t yet sense that we’re getting on each other’s nerves. (They don’t get on mine, at least.) It probably helps that…
Vol. 23, No. 3
Dear Family The events of this month have reminded me of a story told by Aunt Rebecca (I think it was Aunt Rebecca) at a family reunion many years ago about how her father (my Grandpa Willis) attempted to explain to his six daughters (and perhaps to a lesser degree his two sons) that, if…
Vol. 23, No. 2
Dear Family Mental health care has come a long way since 1885 when Utah’s “Territorial Insane Asylum” opened in Provo. Today, no longer physically separated from the rest of town by swampland and the city dump, the historic facility is called the Utah State Hospital, and Hannah is doing one of her final clinical rotations…
Vol. 23, No. 1
A contributing factor to the unique nature of our church is the curious fact that none of our leaders—literally none of them—volunteer or apply for their positions. Leaders at every level are selected through a process in which existing leaders attempt to discern the mind and will of God on the matter through a combination…