Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

My generation has often been called the Baby Boomers. I come at the tail end of that group of people, and now is the time when you finally see evidence of our dominance wherever you go, for good or for ill.

Icons of that generation are evident everywhere, and no place is more evidence than at shopping malls. I was in a mall recently and saw prominently displayed pictures of The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. When one thinks of the 50s and the 60s, those are icons that will forever be indentified with us. It was a great time to be alive and to be young. Now, it is just as good a time to be alive and be old.

However, there will come a time when my generation fades out of the collective consciousness of the masses and they will not remember us like they do now. Our son Michael the other day told me that the last of his missionary companions was coming home. I told him that now Elder Hardy will just become a legend in the Raleigh North Carolina Mission. Soon, people will forget he was there, except for some members who will remember him with fondness. The legend of Elder Hardy will slip away. It is much the same with my generation, the icons and the memories of us will slip away from people and they will hardly know that we were here, unless we make histories and recordings of who we were and hope people will cherish them.

They say that Ignorance is Bliss. That is what they say!! We took a walk around the neighborhood tonight as we often do, and found out that early Saturday morning the fire was so close to this neighborhood (which was easily observable when we came home tonight) that at about 1am Saturday morning they evacuated the neighborhood, INCLUDING OUR HOUSE!! The problem? Michael Scott was inside and sound asleep, and never heard about the evacuation, and could have been in danger had the wind not turned back on itself and helped put the fire out. This fire came within a half mile of my home. I wasn’t even here to get the things out that would have been important to me, and moreover, take care of my family.

I have been shaken up by this. The ability for disaster to strike, and to make major changes in our lives is never more visible than when things like this happens. There could be fire, earthquake, flood, or more that could happen. Ignorance is not bliss, it just delays the concern for a little while.

If you ever talk to my kids, you will sooner or later hear them say that dad was always saying that variety is the spice of life. I am a person who likes variety in life. I don’t like to do the same old thing every day, and be in the same old dull rut.

I was in a mall in Las Vegas recently and noticed the huge variety that was there. Without market restrictions set by a government, entrepreneurs are free to create whatever they feel the public will buy, and they are creating a lot of different stuff. A stroll through the mall allows you to see just how much stuff there is.

Of course, I don’t have the money to buy all that stuff, nor would I want to buy that stuff if I had the money, but just the fact that it exists is kind of fun because the world has changed a lot since I grew up and the variety of stuff out there to buy is an indicator of just how much it has changed. Just walking in a Corelle Ware store was an object lesson on how much “kitchen stuff” there is you could buy. What a great place we live in.

We are up in Wyoming this weekend, dealing with Family Chaos. I use that term to describe the challenges to the family during the last two weeks. We have had 3 of 4 of the Wyoming Hardys in the process of moving. That is the chaos we are dealing with because this will be a new experience for everyone

First, Chris bought a new house and moved last weekend. I was not able to be there because of work concerns. I have been inundated of late at work and I couldn’t leave Utah. All the family forces were marshaled in Cheyenne and they helped him move. That job is still not finished.

This weekend it is Brian and Crystal and Julies turn. Bryan and Crystal are moving to Laramie because he has been accepted into the WICHE program for Medical School at the University of Washington in Seattle. He spends his first year in Laramie before moving to Seattle. That will be a great adventure.

Then, since Brian and Crystal are moving, that forces Julie to move to another place in Cheyenne. Therefore, this will be a very busy weekend moving the kids to where they need to be. I hope all goes well. We had one casualty last week when an arcade game got dropped on Gordon’s foot. It was still really swollen last night when we stopped in Laramie.

I hope that the chaos settles down. I am feeling older though, really not wanting to make the 8 hour trip as much anymore between Payson and Cheyenne. I do enjoy the kids. What I don’t enjoy is the sitting in the car for so long. It is so long across miles and miles of Wyoming desert.

Recently my son spoke in his blog of Appliance Lust. He mentioned just how much he loved to go out and buy appliances for his new home. While he has lust after new appliances, my lust is for electronic contraptions. Furthermore, my lust is never satisfied because I never seem to get out and buy those things that I want so badly.

What is it I lust after? Well, I would love one of those IPODS, a Bose Acoustical Wave Machine, and a new handheld PDA. What else is on my to buy list? Well, there is an LCD projector, a Video Camera, and enhancements to my Digital camera system. You might say that I have an Electronic Lust list. My, what has happened to me, a child of the 60s, in this new age of electronics?

I had a wonderful day yesterday. I didn’t do much of anything if it is measured by the number of projects that I have finished, people I have visited with, meetings attended, or just plain money earned. It didn’t amount to much if you measure it by the adoration of the world, the acknowledgment of what you accomplish by statesmen, or if you measure it by how your yard looks. It also didn’t amount to much if you measure it by how the day was recorded for posterity.

However, it was great because I was able to sit with my family, enjoy their friendship, company, and conversation, and most importantly for us old people, get to hold our grandchildren and play with them. As we get older, a lot of things tend to start working not as well as advertised. The old ticker begins to have problems, we gain weight and can’t seem to get it off, the blood pressure is out of line, and our blood sugars may not be in line with guidelines. However, one thing we get to see is life renewed, the hope of the race through those choice spirits that come to us as our grandchildren. I got to hold and feed each one of our two grandchildren, and it was a treat. I love their parents and my children, but I also deeply love those grandchildren. They are a special treat to us old people.

We were over to Chris’s tonight, and it was fun watching the family children becoming rock musicians. Chris has a video game called Rock Show. There is a lead singer, an electric guitar, a base guitar, and drummer. The kids hammed it up and had great fun. It was a great evening. I love family.

I love spending a holiday or special day with the family. Today is Easter. We have had the opportunity to be with the family today, and that has been a wonderful opportunity. I love watching my children, and now my grandchildren, as they interact with each other and as we share their lives. Yes, being a father and a grandfather has been a wonderful experience.

One of the things that happens when you go to visit family, and you stay at their haciendas, is that you sleep in a room other than your own. We spent last night sleeping in Julie’s room. That is always a new experience, sleeping in someone else’s room, because when you get up in the night, as I always end up doing, you don’t know for sure where you are at. I woke up last night, and it took me about 5 minutes laying there, looking around, before I figured out and realized I was in Julie’s room, not my room at home. There is always a moment of disorientation before you get it all figured out. Yes, I realized I was sleeping in Julie’s room.

Well, at least it seemed to be. The setting was right. Tonight I was sitting in the famed Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square. The big, wonderful organ was there, and there sat a choir. It looked like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but it wasn’t. It was the Orem UVSC Institute of Religion Choir singing at the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Samuel H. Smith, first official missionary in the history of the LDS Church.

My son Michael was there as a singer in the choir, and I was there both as a descendant of the Smith’s as well as a proud father watching his son perform. The choir actually did quite well. It was however a long drive into Salt Lake. I can’t believe it, but as I get older it gets harder for me to make these kinds of trips. I am really beginning to show my age. Michael did a good job, and I think we have one of my kids who make it into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Who knows?