Pappa Hardy’s Musings on Life.

It’s after a day like today that I am seriously considering a career change. I don’t know that I have the passion any more for the type of career that I have right now. I know that stress is part of every day life in every job, but there has to be something better than the spot I am in. Someone out there give me an idea, please?

There is nothing like getting and having a good cold and a sore throat to welcome in the cold, snowy, and wet weather. I have been lucky for a while, but with the weather going cold, the timing has been perfect. I love not being able to breath, your throat hurting like crazy, and yet you still have to carry on. Oh, the blessings of life.

Last November I had the chance to go see Paul McCartney in concert. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love the Beatles. This was the 3^rd time I had seen him. I also saw George Harrison once and I would have gone and saw the others if I could. However, I have been to a lot of other such concerts in my life. While sometimes the people that attended were not of the best sort, and while sometimes they smoked pot, yet, some of the most electric moments in my life occurred while I was listening to a rock band play a song that I truly loved.

Those performances brought me to times in my life when I had loved what was happening to me and I heard one of those songs. A rock concert is not always a great place to be, but it can be a place where you remember things that made you happy. I can’t afford to go any to these anymore, but how I loved some of those concerts, despite the loudness, the screaming, and the other stuff.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It doesn’t require all of that spending money on others that Christmas has become. That makes Christmas full of a lot of tension. It does bring family, and when you host the annual wingding, then the stress comes. I love visiting with family, but I get nervous when 25-30 people show up at my house. It makes me want to retreat into isolation. But, it is fun to have the kids here. I love having them around so we can talk and catch up. Sometimes, my computer even gets updated and repaired.

I had a good friend growing up that was there for me through thick and thin. His name was Norman White and I am sure glad that I knew him. What makes me sad is that since we both got married, and then I moved out of state, I have lost track of him. He was the one that I would bounce ideas off of. He was the one that was with me when the neighborhood snowball fights occurred. We hid in his basement when snowballs we through over his house actually hit cars. We weren’t bad kids, we just liked to have fun.

I miss good friends like Norman. He seems to be no longer part of my life, but if I could find him I would. The last I knew he moved, and I have been unable to track him down since then. He was a true friend.

With some friends you seem to grow closer as time rolls on. Others seem to be lost in the bustle and shuffle of life. Richard Egan was a scouting friend of mine when I was a young man in my teens, first establishing my identity. I grew to know Richard from some of my other friends and when I was elected a member of the Order of the Arrow we came to know each other very well.

We both had the same mission. We both wanted to take an organization that was supposed to be a boy’s organization, and take it back from the adults. Adults tend to run youth programs, particular scouting programs, as they seem to think the youth want them to run it, rather than the youth having more input. We had a great advisor for our Order of the Arrow Lodge named George Udink. His only failing was that he wanted to run the program. Well, we were able to rest some of the control of program away from the adults and we actually had a great time.

Once we went away to college, I went to one school and he went away to another. We drifted apart as I established my own family and he remained single. We no longer see much of each other, but for a while we were close friends.

As often happens, I have been listening a lot to this song for the last week, but even now, after all these years, and despite the fact that I love this song, I haven’t got a clue what it really means. Anyone figure it out from the Lyrics, by that rock band of all heavy bands, Led Zeppelin:

There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven

There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it makes me wonder

There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it really makes me wonder

And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,
It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on
And it makes me wonder

Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know
The piper’s calling you to join him
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all is one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll

And she’s buying the stairway to heaven

Waiting for your interpretations.

Today’s star of the day is my mother. I have the greatest love and respect for my mother, who nurtured me, who helped raise me, and of course, who brought me forth into the world. She is such a loving women and she cared very much for us. I am so glad that she is still here to go and talk to, and of course, she hasn’t changed. She calls me a lot and I am so grateful that she cares for me.

She was born on Veteran’s Day. This is a wonderful day for me. It is a wonderful day for me not because of the holiday, but because it is my mom’s birthday. My mom is from good stock, the daughter of a rancher and she learned to work hard in her youth. That work ethic has carried forward since that day. Her care for her family was also started from that youth. She has always been very much a family women. She is my hero.

Yeah, the guys behind us at the BYU-Wyoming Game were much worse. I have heard incessantly about how good the BYU fans are, versus how bad UW fans are. I have been to both stadiums and I can tell you that the BYU fans that sat behind me tonight as UW was trounced by the Cougars were terrible. Their language was not good, and they made some veiled references that I thought were outright bad. I was not impressed by BYU.

Well, being in the Bishopric in our ward has finally paid off. The Elder’s Quorum in our Ward has an annual Steak Fry that they put on. It has a very good reputation, and because I am in the Bishopric we got invited this time. It was a very good meal. The steaks were excellent. Yes, finally, being in the Bishopric did pay off.