March 10, 2011

Heaviest snow since Thanksgiving

Monday night a huge snowstorm blew through the valley leaving a foot or more of the cold stuff in its wake.  Normally after a big snow like that I would borrow my Mom's front wheel drive van, plow through it and go to work.  She had loaned her car to a visiting relative so my options were to wait for the snow plows, or risk our necks in the truck.  I opted to wait, and I'm so glad I did.  As we waited my beautiful niece April and her husband came by for a visit.  I have known of April since she was born 31 years ago, but never met her.  Her parents divorced when she was very young and we have had limited contact with the whole family since.  I wept as I saw her, so grateful to reconnect with this loved, but formerly lost branch of our family.  April is as nice as she is lovely.  She was interested in our family and really wanted to connect with her paternal side.  I don't normally like snow, but this storm was a gift.

April Osborn Hebert

Yesterday it was 60 degrees and sunny.  Today it reached 68, so the huge snowfall is almost all melted away.  I had my exit interview with our mission president, President Simmons, yesterday.  As I walked across Temple Square to his office I noticed that the crocus and tulips are coming up and will no doubt be in perfect bloom for general conference the first weekend in April.

Brave little blooms

My exit interview was sweet.  President Simmons asked about our mission experience and it gave me a chance to reflect on the wonderful, often miraculous events of the past 18 months.  He told me how grateful he was to us for our service, and how grateful he was to our dear Stake President Albrecht for writing and recommending that our initial rejection be reconsidered.  I add my gratitude to his.  My puny attempts at describing this mission experience fall so miserably short of the sublime experience it has been, that I am reluctant to try.  President Simmons asked what I planned to do when I got home.  I told him about my somewhat nebulous plan to create a theraputic riding center.  He told me to go for it, that he was always glad he grew up on the back of a horse.  He and his sweet wife will be leaving the mission this summer, so he agreed with me that it will be hard to leave.
With that interview behind me I started feeling a little trunky.  We are not released for another two weeks, but having been thanked and dismissed got me thinking about going home.  It was almost hard to go into work this morning.  Still there is work to be done, and I'll do it.