7 Feb 2010
Every family member was appointed one Sunday of the month to write a letter to Grandma and Grandpa Gee in New Zealand. My week is last, but alas it is already past the first, so here’s to both!
News from Temple View: A recent dinner served to their friends and leaders consisted of ears of corn Grandpa raised from scratch in their backyard garden over the past 10 weeks. Go Grandpa! Some of us have swept, blown and shoveled anything but corn tassels, (mostly the material is white,
coupled with remains of three neighbor cottonwoods
tumbling over our fence) but we are applauding Kristen's burgeoning 2008 poinsettia,
browsing planting calendars and seed suggestions with stories of square foot gardens and Uncle Paul’s homemade water-barrel compost bin to get in the mood for March 1st planting.
A bottom bureau drawer bulged this morning upon remnants of Christmas which peeked and wedged their way out.
Wool was the fabric of choice in gifts this season to Starkey sheep young and old—socks to supplement the start of a preparedness pack. A recent news insert “BeReadyUtah” indicates that we are more likely to experience an earthquake than heart problems or cancer or car accident. Speaking of auto incidents, on the way to Washington, we had bad gasoline (or something that stimulated jerking or better said, “ Jerrrr-King!”) which caused us to U-turn at Willard, the Saturday before Christmas, then rise to participate in a lovely program celebrating the Savior and the peace of His birth and the gift of His atonement. Immediately after, we seat belted, stopping to see Aunt Lorraine,
who shared photos of her Malad growing up homestead and former years with family
(Amazing how young she is after all these years! And pictures of pictures do work!)
We visited Grandma Polson
and Great Aunt Susan, who shared tarnished pages with Grandpa Denny Thomas' brother Willie’s first auto accident,
which interestingly parallels pictures of Amber’s on the first page of this blog. Pondering the nature and nurture of such situations—do car crunches come genetically?! What we did notice for certain from the aging pages were resemblances of shy matching growing-up grins of cousins and siblings, with our own children. Names of Denny’s brothers and sisters researched the past two years seemed to dance off the page as we learned of Uncle Homer driving a big bus,
Uncle Charlie and Grandpa Denny directing water hoses and shiny fire trucks,
Grandma Anna toting a baritone,
and sweethearts reminiscing together
near a waterfall after fifty years in the park of their engagement photographs.After wrestling and romping,
play dough pounding and cookie-cutting
with engaged, interested, and excited grandchildren,
unwrapping gifts with each,
and reading with Riley,
we departed for Centralia (aka North Pole) Washington,
where we caroled, helped with Santa’s workshop
while revisiting Jimmy Stewarts’ “Wonderful Life” and playing every game we could find.
Christmas dinner found us in a lovely home in Puyallup,
where we joined Patrick’s cousin celebrating creation of foods of all fashion. Her husband shared tips on organizing digital photographs, which we are trying, and extending via Skype and other means toward New Zealand and elsewhere. David Gee’s family after making a moment to share at the Seattle temple,
helping with Patrick’s family work and sharing a "good gifts" family night, 
also joined us with fun at Carma’s,
connecting with Carma’s boys
home from Provo and Los Angeles.
This Saturday, betwixt sending Maria to a Logan High School debate experience (the last before battling braces again) and pounding Provo pavement to assist a sophomore in finding suitable summer/autumn housing, we returned to learn that our neighbor lost her husband in the night. No longer eligible to feel like “God’s Favorite,” (the title of the play that Kristen’s husband Zachary is directing for his senior project coming up in 2 weeks—a modern day parallel of the Old Testament story of Job) we count blessings of missing a fatal accident in Sardine Canyon Monday
(to see what we saw, view:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9545773&autostart=y )
on our way to view talents of Gee sister cousins in Joseph’s Amazing Coat…with their amazing energy and sweet gift of song and selflessness.
We are grateful to receive assistance in sharing the spy glassing of family branches from friends and helpful others in preparing a power point and preserving two DVDs, to pursue a passion of collecting and sharing memorable moments with family and friends. May the connection with your roots and tangled branches come with careful planning and from something other than an unpredicted crash. And may each of us treasure the sometimes “slow” that may attend our vehicles as we are stalled by the challenges of others. Aren’t we blessed?! May your tangle with readying for future events bring you closer to your branches and roots!
Love to you, the Starkeys
