Lorree Smith, my cousin was the host tonight to Michael, Julie, Bonnie, and myself in a tour of some of the nation’s historic monuments in downtown Washington D.C. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, at night. It was fantastic. The view at night was spectacular, despite the heat and the humidity. It was 80 degrees and 100 percent humidity at that time and it was terribly oppressive. Despite all of that, it was a wonderful experience.
Today we visited Kitty Hawk National Monument, where the Wright Brothers first conducted a successful manned powered flight. It was a neat experience to be standing on the very spot where it all began, over 100 years ago. Just 3 days ago, I rode in a jetliner across this great country of hours, making it from Phoenix, Arizona to Raleigh, North Carolina, in a little over 4 hours. If they only knew that they had started here on this planet called Earth. How things have changed since that plane first took off from the ground. As I said today, it all started here.
Today was a payoff day for me. We went to church in Henderson, North Carolina, to visit members with Michael. It was wonderful in the extreme. We went to church in the Henderson Branch and to see a lot of wonderful members, particularly Hispanics that Michael had been involved with. They all thought that Michael was Angelic, and it was so neat to be able to be there and do things with my Angelic, Missionary son. It was a wonderful day.
If you had read the Book of Mormon, you might think that I was referring to the sign that Christ was being born in the America’s. Unfortunately, what I am writing about is not quite so dramatic or faith inspiring. Rather, it refers to the day and night before we left for vacation in North Carolina.
It was so busy at work on Friday that I didn’t get a lot done that needed to be done before I left to go on vacation. We then went to the Salmon Supper in Payson, which if you have never gone is a terrific event. The salmon was just wonderful. We had good company too, Gordon and Christie and their number one in utero, Grandpa and Grandma Hardy, then the Hardy’s left at the Hardy Hacienda.
Once we came home, it was time to get packed up and ready for the vacation. You would think that we would know better and have been all prepared. Instead, we had to start from scratch so that meant that I didn’t get all of my packing and preparation done until almost midnight. I had to go back to the office therefore to get the job done and so here I was, sitting in the Payson Branch of Zions Bank at 2am in the morning. Once that was finished, I had to gas up the car and do some other stuff.
3am, I am sitting awake in the computer room of the house, and the question arose, do I go to bed for 90 minutes or do I just stay awake and get ready and go. Well, I didn’t think 90 minutes would help me so I stayed awake, mainly because in order to get to the Salt Lake airport and get on our way we had to leave Payson at 4:15am.
Well, I stayed awake, for the first time in probably 20 years, all night long. I know there have been times when I felt like I was staying up all night long, but most of the time I had at least a few minutes of fitful sleep.
Well, my lack of sleep showed up in the next days activities. We had trouble in going through security at the airport because I had forgotten to pick up the boarding passes, and then we had a little time in Phoenix to change flights, and then the long flight across the US of A to Henderson, North Carolina.
I had heard that North Carolina was beautiful, but I was unprepared for the things that I saw there. It is such a beautiful state. When we arrived, we still had things to do, and by that time I was unprepared for how luppie I was starting to get. I think that I only survived because I was so excited that I was able to survive. It was such a beautiful day and a great way to end “A Day, A Night, and A Day”.
Last night I went to the City Council meeting to hear them discuss a very difficult matter. I sat and watched them, realizing that if I am successful I will have the same choices to make. I believe that I have the capability to handle these decisions, but nevertheless I could see how difficult the choices may be. This is an interesting venture I have become part of. Within about a month we will have the primary election. We shall see if I go on forward or not. I am not quite sure how this will all work out.