Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

This week has been full for me. I have had my wonderful family here. While Bonnie is the mother hen of this group and loves them here all of the time, I manage to hide my feelings better than her and therefore I don’t voice them as often. However, I loved having all of my children here, save one who could not make it. We wish he could have been here with us.

Today was special. We had the whole gang in the house this morning, and we ran off to church for a double header. We had the blessing of Braxton Bennett Hardy, and then we had the opportunity to hear Elder Michael Hardy report on his mission.

He did good. He took 30 minutes or more and taught the gospel. That was special. I was so glad that he was such a good missionary. I am so proud of my boys. I am proud of that new grandson, and I am proud of my sons. They have done us good, each and every one.

We had lots of family there, and friends too. We were doubly and triply, and more blessed today. It was a wonderful day.

It was a wonderful morning, full of more and more blessings.

Today was one of those days when you measure another passage in this journey called life. I stood in the baggage claim area of the Salt Lake City International airport as my youngest son, my namesake, Elder Michael S. Hardy, returned from his two year mission to the people of North Carolina.

It was a real site to see him come down the escalator and rejoin the family. I loved seeing him come home, and it was one of those special moments in my life. My last missionary son, or daughter, was home, and from now on we don’t have the blessing of one of my children serving a mission for the Lord. I felt sad, yet glad, that we had reached this milestone. Sad that I wouldn’t be receiving any of those special blessings, and glad that he was home.

We march through life, wondering how it is all going to come out. I pray that ours ends up as a happy ending, but regardless of how the long story ends, this chapter in the story was a special time for my family. I am so proud to be a witness of young boys turning into men, of spiritual youth becoming spiritual giants, of my children besting their parents. I am so proud that all of my children are mine, not only now, but for all eternity.

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.

This last weekend has been a family reunion weekend. It was also the wedding for one of my siblings daughter so we had family all over, all weekend long. We had a family dinner on Thursday night at Tucano’s in Provo.

On Friday, we had the big wedding at the Salt Lake Temple with lots of family there. Included in the August list was my brother and his wife from St. Louis. They decided that it was better to swelter in the hot temperatures in Utah, than go without power in St. Louis where the rest of their family experienced a bad storm which took out their power for most of the city.

Later that evening we all attended a very nice reception up Millcreek Canyon at the Millcreek Canyon In. The next day we had a fun dinner and reunion at my sisters home and we got together for a family picture. I love weekends where we can get together with and enjoy family. We all bring different strengths, and of course weaknesses, to our family group. I guess that is what makes it interesting and fun, and of course challenging, to live in a family.

I Love also being able to be together once again with my brothers and sisters. We have now been a family unit in shape or the other, for over 50 years. I feel deeply for these people.