Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

Today I was released as the 2nd Counselor in the Page Ward Bishopric. I had served in that position for almost 4 years. When you serve in a position like that for as long as I have, you come to feel a huge loss when the situation is changed. I enjoyed serving with some fine men and women in the Page Ward. I now find myself without a calling. I am sure that will change soon, but it is an unusual feeling for me. I praise the Lord for the opportunity that has been mine to serve with such wonderful men.

I have never really been a fan of black Friday. For some reason I just don’t get a thrill of getting in the hunt for a bargain at 3am in the morning. I know that some people love that, but I am not one of them. I would much rather sleep in until my normal 5am get up time.

Unfortunately, I am the type of Christmas shopper that ends up not getting Christmas done until Christmas Eve. Somewhere, there must be a happy medium. I am unfortunately not it.

I love Thanksgiving. I always have, and I always will. The thing I love the most is family. This is a wonderful family day and I have lots of family memories that I cherish. In this year of trial, I pray for a special blessing on my families, all of America’s families, and the families of the world. We are all one big family and need to start getting along with each other.

nice to have everything all bundled up and you would know when this or that would happen, and certainly, nothing bad or hard would ever happen. However, the creator in his wisdom knew that if that was what happened, we would never grow.

It sure doesn’t make it any easier, but that is the way that life is. One day you may be employed, then next, without a job during the middle of a real bad recession. One day your car may be in great shape, and the next it stops running or you are hit by another motorist. The worst of course is our health. At my recent 40th High School Reunion it was amazing how many of our classmates were dead, or are very sick and in the process of dying. So far, I have been blessed health wise but I do have my challenges. Yes, life is uncertain. We just have to do our best to have a positive attitude and cope with as best as we can.

I once considered Utah County as enemy territory. In those heady days when I was a student at the University of Utah, I not only could not consider living in Utah County, but thought of the whole county as the place where a different species of people lived. Now, I live amongst the enemy in Utah County. I have found that the enemy is OK, but even more importantly I have found that Utah County, particularly Payson, is a wonderful place to live. I think there are still a lot of people here who assume that since you live in this beautiful place, that you are automatically a fan of BYU. However, I wear the red U of U tie proudly and let them know that the enemy now lives in Utah County.

There are days when life is tough, when things have become such a challenge that you wonder if you can handle it any more. It is on those kind of days that you hope for a safe port, a place where you can go and have all the hurts taken care of and the concern washed away.

For me, that was the Old Homestead, a house on 97 Dixie Street where my parents lived. I could go there, sit amongst familiar walls and know that I was home and that I would be taken care of. There are places like that for all of us. I am grateful for parents who made a home for me that gave me a place of refuge where I could be loved and taken care of.

Today, as I fought a freeway of ice and danger, I longed for the old homestead. I longed to be able to go there and have the fear of the unknown taken away and my feelings and concerns soothed and blown away. I longed for a simpler time when mom and dad would take care of it all. I longed for the Old Homestead.

I hadn’t really posted about what has been happening in Payson, but back in July I filed to run for the Payson City Council. A lot happened along the way, but on November 3 I was elected to the council, finishing second out of four that ran. Now, I am in the process of transitioning onto the council. There, is so much to learn and so much to do. There is just a lot of work. What have I got myself into. We shall find out.

Back in the 60’s Premier Nikita Kruschev of the USSR said that they (Russia) would bury us. I would laugh in my mind because I thought that could never happen. The United States was just much better. However, the Communist Chinese (and other Chinese) may have accomplished what the Soviets didn’t have a chance of doing. What is my proff? Well, I stood on the bow of the Golden Princess at the Sawyer glacier, my wife by my side, and all I could hear spoken around me was Mandarin Chinese, not by one person, nor two, but families and lots of individuals. I could understand, but not all of what was going on. The Chinese have taken over the earth. More than one if four of earth’s people are Chinese.

The biggest disappointment of my cruise to Alaska was not seeing the Northern Lights. I have always wanted to see that wonder of nature. However, 8 straight days of nothing but mostly cloudy skies or complete cloud cover made it so I couldn’t fulfill that dream. I guess I have a reason for going to Alaska again.