cc: file, Mom, Sara and Des, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Charles and Diane Cluff, and Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, Ivan and Chell Warner, and Eric and Renee Miner
"I decided to send two thoughtlets this week to make up for being out of town last Sunday. The importance of family really came to home to me as we travelled to Colorado and Utah over Christmas and New Years. I want to thank each of you for agreeing to go and see Paul off. I realize there were a lot of other things you would have rather been doing. I thought we had a pretty good trip, despite Rob's broken arm while skiing, my dislocated shoulder after falling on the ice, forward off of Mom's cousin's front porch (Fred and Linda Burger's), at 4:30 AM as we were leaving for the new Denver International airport, and despite not meeting with more of the Nelson cousins when we were in Utah.
Please recall with me how, now that we are back home, you don't remember being so bored. Remember how much fun it was to watch everyone twist and turn with Rob, or Ben, or Roice as they ran WaveRace on Rob's Nintendo 64. Remember how much fun it was to see Chuck and Rachel and his new sports car. Remember Grandma Jackson's prayer on Christmas, and how glad she was to have all of us there with her. Remember putting a puzzle together or reading a book or going to a movie or going bowling (I still can't believe Rob carried his bowling ball with him to Colorado and Utah!). Remember flying to Salt Lake without Mom and Dad, and picking a motel on your own, walking around Temple Square together, looking at the lights, and listening to the people, and watching Paul talk to all of the missionaries as he told them where he was going. Remember going up to Farmington (twice) to see our cousin's Debbie and Steve Woods and their kids. Remember how please Grandma Nelson was to have us all around the table for the wonderful meal Aunt Sara prepared. Remember going skiing with Uncle Des, how excited Sarah Johnson was to see Zion Canyon, the funny way Grandma Hafen was (her way of showing how pleased she was to have everyone come and visit her), going to a movie in Cedar, and helping Rob after he broke his arm. Remember how neat it was to see Paul and Sharon Nelson at the Mission Home, where they came to drop off Kendall to be in the same missionary orientation Paul was in. Remember how funny our Paul was as he described how the flourscient dot on his shirt was the latest technology and if he `thought a bad thought he would implode and disappear into another dimension.' Remember how we continued telling family stories as cousin Debbie fed us dinner, and Sara got lost going to get Sarah and Ben and they almost didn't make the plane we caught home a day early. Remember how it felt to be home. These good memories of family will never fade, if we take the time to recall them.
Sort of like the song I wrote on Aunt Bettye's porch (Fred's Mom) on 05 Aug 1973: `I Once Saw A Family'. It was all in my imagination, but it was based on the family get togethers at my Grandma Nelson's when I was a kid, and was what I dreamed would happen in our family. I repeat the words here so you can share my memories of the past and future:
1. I once saw a family round an old fireplace,
Talking of things they had done.
Children and parents, Great-Grand-Dad's there too,
Recalling stories told before.
C: I watched them sing and play, and dance the time away,
Living their lives like a perfect rhyme.
Like mankind should be, a big happy family,
Loving and sharing all of the time.
2. Cousins running through the grass short and tall,
Playing games young people play.
Uncles and Aunts talk of when they were young,
And the things they did to have fun.
3. Dinner time and they all gathered round,
A long oak table for a feast.
Sister serving little brother tries to help,
Tripping on Frodo, who gave out a yelp.
4. Evening goes, and the fire burns down low,
With coals that look like children asleep.
They all gather round in a circle on their knees,
Expressing thanks for days like these.
Thank you all y'all for being part of my family and for the memories we have and will continue to develop and to share. To you kids, thanks for making the effort to have a nice family Christmas/farewell vacation."