cc: file, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner. and Diane Cluff.
"Hopefully this is my last moving to Houston with a U-Haul, U-Pay, U-Drive, U-Suffer, etc. I imagine this artificial world where I can afford to have somebody move me and my loved ones and our stuff. And yet I'm fully cognizant of the fact I'm the one who has chosen not to stick in the corporate work environment where these are normal benefits.
I was moving pretty slow after going to Dr. Levin on Tuesday. I still went into work on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. However, I was not functioning very well. The meetings associated with the Continuum Board of Directors on Wednesday were realling interesting. I am sure impressed with Mr. Finstad, and I am very optimistic that he is going to help Continuum become a much more substantial company than Landmark Graphics has become. He left about noon on Thursday, and I left the office about 2:30 to get ready for Sara's party. I didn't count how many people came. I wasn't feeling real good, and yet I felt good enough to peel some potatoes, have Rob help me get the charcoal lit for doing Dutch Oven potatoes, and using the new grill Mom gave us as a wedding present to cook hot dogs and hamburgers for a bunch of good looking kids. It felt so good to have my kid's friends at the house, and to see them having a lot of fun together, and specifically knowing the fun was in a wholesome environment. I was definitely tired by the time the party broke up at about 7:30. However, there was still a lot to do to get the house ready for Andrea and my new family, and so I still worked late.
Friday I worked all day, despite feeling pretty lousy and moving slow. I went from work to the house, did several things that needed to be done, and then drove down to Sara's graduation at the AstroArena. It was no fun to be at a graduation alone. Sara, it felt really good to watch you get your diploma and it was worth it to see you and Melanie in the lobby afterwards. Floyd Lunt was also in the lobby, and as my home teacher he volunteered to drive me to Hobby Airport Saturday morning, so I didn't have to leave the car there and have to go pick it up later. I got back to the house about 10:00 PM, and worked until about 2:00 AM. Floyd was at the house at 5:45 AM, and I slept on the airplane. It stopped in Phoenix on the way to Las Vegas. I took the shuttle bus to St. George, and it was the most unusual shuttle ride of my life. About 10 minutes before the van left the Las Vegas airport we started a conference call with Roger Anderson and Albert Boulanger in New York, Steve Joseph in Provo, and another colleague in Houston. I lost the call several times, and we finally finished about an hour later, just as the shuttle was dropping off of the Mormon Mesa down into Mesquite, Nevada. Isn't technology interesting.
I was able to take Mom to lunch at Hunan. Paul picked me up and we went by and said hi to Grandma Hafen. By the time we got to Cedar City the U-Haul truck was completely loaded. I helped with some stuff that needed to be done. Paul and Randy drove back up to Provo Saturday evening. I went to the grocery store with Andrea and got snacks and water for the drive. We went to a wedding reception for my Cousin Mark Nelson's son Steven and his new wife Gena. Andrea knows everyone in Cedar City. It is fun to be with her, particularly to see her interact with kids who were on her debate squads. The kids went to see `Entrapment' while we were at the reception. Rachel and Audrey slept at the house in sleeping bags. Matt stayed with Bryan, and Andrea and I stayed in Bridget's room. We got up Sunday, went to Andrea's ward, came back and ate at her Mom's, and began moving to Houston about 1:00 in the afternoon.
Driving a U-Haul across the Kaiabab Plateau, down to Lee's Ferry, up to Flagstaff, and down to Arcosanti, where we spent the first night, went slow. The big diesil tank emptied twice for every time the car gas tank emptied. In an attempt to make moving a little more fun, we stopped at Arcosanti, north of Phoenix and Biosphere 2, north of Tuscon. We spent longer than I anticipated getting to and at Biosphere, and so we ended up spending Monday night in El Paso. We got to Houston Tuesday evening about 7:00 PM.
Our other home teacher, Grant Ostvig, was waiting for us with a bar-b-que dinner, and he arranged for several of the High Priest's to come and help us unload the U-Haul. We finished unloading about 10:30 PM. I wonder if we will ever finish moving. In fact, as I think about Ben and Sarah moving to a house closer to their work in a couple of months, and the fact they are interested in us coming up to help them, I am glad to know we are healthy enough we can help. In fact, I think of all of the people I helped move in Dallas when I was in the Elder's Quorum Presidency, and all of the people I have helped move at other places we have lived, and I really don't regret any of the service. I recall when we moved from Dallas to Houston in 1980, and the fact there was an ice storm coming in, we had tickets to go hear a famous guitarist Andrea Segovia, and we drove to Houston in our U-Haul, rather than face the possibility of getting stuck in Dallas for a couple of days in an ice storm. All in all, moving is one of the major experiences that make up the stories of our lives.
In addition, despite my comments about being my last time moving to Houston, I recognize there are boxes full of atoms (and mostly paper) in the garage which are taking up 20 feet x 15 feet x 8 feet of space. I expect Rob and Matt and I will be moving them to a storage shed sometime over the next month or so. I sincerely hope to convert those atoms to electrons over the next few years, and reduce the size of my legacy to a 6 inch digital cube, which will be a replicatable summary of my turn on earth, and along with the paintings will be the physical portion of my inheritance for each of you. Hopefully this eldo (ELectronic DOcument) will become a personal guide to help each of us (and all of our descendants) as we each face our own personal trials in life. In my ideal artificial world, this legacy is similar to how the scriptures have become a guide for generations of families who seek to learn from the experiences of their ancestors. It is my prayer you each may learn from the experience and testimony of those who have lived through the same trials you get to face, and specifically that you avoid the pitfalls and mistakes others, starting with me, have already made."