Why it is hard to love Minnesota

IT IS 17 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT BELOW ZERO RIGHT NOW!!!! With the wind chill it is more like 35 below – and it is going to stay that way for three more days at least.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

This is Khaled Hosseini’s second work. His first was The Kite Runner and is also an excellent book. Once again we are back in Afghanistan just before all the wars and through modern times. In the Kite Runner the story focused on the relationship between two young boys, but now it is between two women. The book was very heavy and depressing, but extremely engaging and practically read it in one day. It reminds me of the Lovely Bones; a very sad tale that I could not put down.

Khaled’s strength is his ability to tale a love story that is not based on Romance. Through all the hardship and sacrifice, some things cannot be squashed or destroyed. The true love can weather a very hard path, and happiness is not without loss. As icing on the cake you can learn quite a bit about Afghani life, especially during the last 20 years.

Playing for Pizza

This is John Grisham’s latest non-legal themed book. In the past he has written about Italy and about football, but now he combines the two with the story of a washed out NFL quarterback who plays a season in the Italian NFL. An enjoyable book that increases my desire to visit Italy one day and it also makes me regret that I cannot eat wheat anymore. If anything was lacking it was the length; overall the book was much too short. He could have spent easily twice as long doing a little more character development, and threshing out a few of his aborted plot sidelines. I managed to read it in one evening after work.

Speaking of Atlanta

On the flight down at 7am in the morning I got to ride with a whole lot of Stewardesses commuting to work. They we all very attractive women but they were also all in their mid-50’s. I guess being a flight attendant is not a job for the 20 something.

Temperature in Minneapolis when I left was 20 degrees below zero and the wind was blowing. Planes were being delayed because their water lines were freezing as they stood. I got to Atlanta right as their worst snow storm in 3 years was raging. They shut down the airport shortly thereafter and most things in the city were canceling. I kid you not, it was in the mid-30’s (above zero) and they had barely an inch of snow. I was walking around in a t-shirt basking in the summer weather while they were closing up shop. Amazing what a few years in Minnesota will do for you.

Who’s Your Mother?

Age is such a hard thing to judge. Lisa was substituting at an elementary school when one of the younger teachers upon hearing her name, asked if she was Gunnar’s sister. Of course though when we did visit her real sister out in Utah last year (while she was a missionary on Temple Square), the other missionaries all assumed we were her parents. But that is not the point of this post, rather I went to Atlanta a few weeks ago for work and while there I stayed at my sister’s placed and assisted in the ordination to the Priesthood of her son. While at her church a woman asked if I was her son, and we are only a little over 5 years apart.

Getting Better

Losing Fred and all that comes with that was a lot harder than I thought. It has been getting easier with the passage of time, and now we are able to discuss all the good memories with the kids. They especially love the stories of Fred as a puppy when it was just Lisa and I; like that Fred was so small he fit in the pocket of my jacket, and that he could stick his head all the way inside a glass trying to get the drink n the bottom. They still pray for him and JT especially asks God that Fred be there when he dies. We have decided that as tough as his death was we will try again in the future. We feel it is important that kids get to grow up with the companionship of a dog; a young dog they can play with and enjoy.

More Sad News

As most of you who know us have probably heard, Fred our dog of 15 years passed away this morning while Lisa and I held him.