A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS

Yesterday my sister, Julie--who has pneumonia and shouldn't be going anywhere--her daughter, Lezlie, Lezlie's daughter Megan--the fantastic ice dancer--and Adrienne--whose name I may have misspelled--Julie's daughter-in-law came to see us. What fun that was. Everyone but Julie lives in the East so I don’t get to see them very often. Lezlie brought me a very fat, large ceramic frog for my birthday. She used to tell me a Big Mouthed Frog joke when she was a kid and her little face was hysterical—she was very dramatic. I loved to hear her tell the joke and loved her. And still do. So that's one thing, family--immediate family and extended family--is important.

Today, in Relief Society, our RS president, Joan, who lives across the street, gave a great lesson on gratitude. She had us list all the things we were grateful for and the whole list consisted of good things--easy things--nice things. After she was finished it was time for testimony meeting and the last person who bore her testimony talked about trials and how no matter how difficult life gets it will be all right. I wish I could remember what she said word for word. Trials, that make us stronger, bring us closer to the Lord, humble us and make us appreciative--now that's something to be grateful for and it's mega-important. Her words to remember: “It’s going to be all right.”

Patty, one of the sisters in the audience said that if you have gratitude the devil has no power to bring you down into depression. She didn’t say it exactly like that but that’s what my little ears heard and I’m choosing to believe it. So, I’m going to start a gratitude list and hope to be less tempted and less willing to follow the road of least resistance and hope I won’t buy into the doom and gloom as often.

And lastly, lemon meringue pie is important. My husband brought me one on Friday as a surprise and I told him I should learn to make lemon meringue pie but he said, "Don't worry about it, we only eat lemon meringue pie about once a year," and he's right. So, that's something I don't have to worry about and having one less thing to worry about is nice. And important.