Pappa Hardy’s Musings on Life.

Yesterday was a great day. My son Gordon received his PhD in Pharmacy, rewarding him for 4 years of hard work, sweat, and tears. What an accomplishment for him, and for his family who supported him through all of this hard work.

Julie likewise has recently earned her RN degree. I am so grateful that I have children (5 of them) that are willing to work hard and accomplish much through the hard toil and labor studying and work. They have all out performed there dad.

These are the kinds of Days of our Lives that I like to see. I am so proud of them all.

There seems to be places where if something can go wrong for you, it will. Put Rawlins, Wyoming on my list. I have had car break downs here. I have had almost fatal auto accidents here, and today, we are kept from our family in Cheyenne by closed roads. The frustrating thing is that Rawlins is dry, sunny, and actually quite warm. What seems to be wrong with the rest of the way.

If I stay someplace overnight in a hotel that I hadn’t planned on staying on, it is Rawlins. If I have had to make unplanned auto repairs, it is Rawlins. Rawlins, why do you hate me?

If you have ever been on a cruise, you soon realize that Einsteins theory of relativity is indeed true. However, what you find out is that time zooms by fast while having fun, but that is not what Einstein was postulating. I just don’t like going on a vacation if I can’t make it last forever.

When we left Port Everglades it was an amazing site. We watched the Oasis of the Seas leave port with 5000 passengers and about 2000 in staff. Our ship, the Crown Princess has 3000 passengers and 1700 staff. In total, during the day we saw at least 8 ships leave port. That is the population of Payson on just those ships. It is hard to comprehend the entire population of Payson sailing out of the ports. What a day.

Well, serving in Public Office is an interesting experience. It takes a mind shift away from what you personally want to see done, to making sure that you are working for the public good of everyone that you represent. This makes the choices difficult because sometimes there are lots of gray areas and no clear cut directions that should be taken. For instance, if you approve a certain type of development for an area, how is that going to impact the city and it’s citizens in 10-15 years, not just tomorrow.

Everyone of course has ideas about the right way to do things as well, and you quickly learn that you can’t always vote the way someone else suggests that you vote. It takes separating your desire to be liked from the public good. Everyone at some time or the other should have this opportunity.

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 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.

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.