The Sunday Post - Issue #3

Today I actually got up and ready in time.  So much so that I had spare time to cook me some eggs and simply enjoy my breakfast.  This is a rare spectacle in my life.  Usually I'm in a rush to go some where so I don't have a lot of time to eat breakfast or some times eat nothing at all!  It gets so bad that when I try to eat breakfast I simply can't.  Literally.  For example I will pour a bowl of "Honey Nut Cheerios", first bite goes down smooth and delicious, second bite is pretty close to the same, and then....... the third bite my stomach clearly rejects it.  Even if I'm hungry and want to eat, my stomach says no with a lovely gagging of my throat.  So having breakfast today was marvelous.

Small note on my church A.D.D., it wasn't very apparent today but that is probably because it was testimony meeting.  There was always someone different at the microphone thus keeping it in check.  Although, thinking back now I did zone out on a couple people as they were speaking.  In class it was more sharing thoughts on what was being taught so that kept me busy.  It is still there for sure, it just had things to keep it in check today for most of the time.

After church was officially over, I felt a bit pathetic because I just hung out a little bit wanting to interact with more people.  It just gets harder the older I get, all my friends that I would hang out with are married or live way too far away now.  Being an introvert is what I'm good at.  I can think of things to do and entertain myself with various projects, but there comes a time when you simply have to get out and do something with another human being like watch a movie, go running or a walk. S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G.  I just don't have the friends like I used to.  I will admit it is always nice to be dating someone because you want to spend time with them so you do stuff together quite often.  But after my whole mission fiasco and poor decisions and the last girl I dated - the succubus - (because it felt like she drained my life essence and used and manipulated me only to toss me aside) it has been a while to get to where I am now.  Anyway, moving on.

A little history of my neighbors who live directly South of me.  They have been there since I can remember and I don't believe they are members of the church.  They had two kids, both way older than myself.  Later on the father had his two brothers move in the house across the street from them, and then later moved down the street instead.  One day there was a lot of people coming and going, people dressed up, from the two brother's house and my neighbors.  Apparently the father had died.  To this day I still don't know how, but their trailer was gone and something might of happened while they were camping.  I felt bad because it was like a week later that I found out, the people all dressed up were relatives and friends attending the funeral.  This all happened about a year or two ago.  Which brings us to yesterday.  Yesterday the mother died.  Not sure how, again, but it was either a heart attack or simply just a passing away.  The son lives there with his girlfriend and daughter and he was freaking out and crying.  I felt so bad for many reasons, the obvious is that he is in his 30's or 40's and both his parents are gone now, and what is he going to do now?  I also felt bad because I don't know what to do, I kind of feel like a horrible neighbor.  Its not like we invited them over for a barbeque or anything, but we never really went out of our way to say hello either.  Just gets me thinking of family and what this church means to so many people.

Another topic from this week is my other neighbors.  These ones live on the North side.  This house has had many different owners over the years, no though, it is currently occupied by a family of African-Americans.  They hail from Somalia and there are a chock full of little kids running around.  It is like once they hit a certain age, an older age, they just disappear.  Some of the boys have one heck of a potty mouth on them.  There is one kid that stands out among the others, one of the little girls.  I'm probably butchering her name but it is Nassi, pronounced NAH-SEE.  The first time I saw this little girl she stuck out her tongue at me as I passed by and I thought she was a rotten little punkette.  But since then I haven't seen anything of the sort from her.  Instead she is a friendly curious little bugger.  Half the time you can't understand what she is saying, because it could be in another language, but its quite evident that she is trying to say "Mister" or "Mr.", but she says "missur", sounds a bit French when she says it.  She always wants to know what you are doing or what this thing is.  Earlier in the week we were cleaning out some stuff from our shed and we gave Nassi and her siblings some stuffed animals.  Her face lit up so bright, like a hundred candles on a birthday cake, when we gave her a super fluffy stuffed dog.  She later came back and gave us three of the smaller ones back saying she didn't want them, which was hilarious.  She kept looking through the fence watching us, and when we pulled out the basketballs she immediately said "Missur missur!!!  I need a basketball!!!"  Cute little bugger.  I want to get a picture of her to put up here, but doing that kind of thing is hard.  I don't want to come off as a creeper, I'm merely a photographer and journalist.  Seeing a motherly lady sit on their deck while many of the small kids run around in the backyard reminded me of my mission, just like the mothers would do in Malaysia while their kids run around the village/jungle.  I think about these neighbors and how they make it through each day some how, and I feel bad because the kids aren't learning things they should be learning to adjust to our American culture, or just simply things of good nature.

Which brings me to the quotes for today's post!!!!  Since I mentioned family a lot, both quotes will be about just that.
The first quote comes from Ezra Taft Benson and the second one from L. Tom Perry - and I strongly agree with his a lot.

Quote #1 -
"Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best."  - Ezra Taft Benson  "Salvation--A Family Affair," Ensign, July 1992, 4

Quote #2 -
"As we take a long, hard look at the world today, it is becoming increasingly evident that Satan is working overtime to enslave the souls of men. His main target is the fundamental unit of society--the family. During the past few decades, Satan has waged a vigorous campaign to belittle and demean this basic and most important of all organizations."  - L. Tom Perry   "Fatherhood, an Eternal Calling," Ensign, May 2004, 69