From May 22 to Jun 4 we were in Utah attending Dayna’s seminary graduation and high school graduation. This was Salem Hills high school’s second graduating class and the second time the graduation ceremonies were held at the high school stadium. The invitation informed everyone that the event would go forward no matter what the weather. The day before the ceremonies, it snowed – 2 inches in Orem. But on May 25, the sun came out and welcomed us to a glorious day.
I had only been to one outdoor graduation before – for my oldest son in Phoenix. And that was going be a hard program to beat because during the opening prayer (they actually had prayers back then, and it wasn’t even an LDS town) there was a streaker who ran full-katilt, stark raving nude across the end zone. I missed the whole thing, however, because being the devoutly religious person I am, I had my eyes closed in prayer. Although the entire crowd was hooting and cheering, I kept my eyes closed and wondered disgustedly about the manners of the irreverent crowd.
But Dayna’s graduation did out-do that one of 1976. The graduates marched around the entire football field. It was fun to watch the senior girls wobble around the track in their spiked heels of bright yellows, pinks, and purples. Dayna was two people behind the bright yellow spiked heels, so she was easy to find. (Dayna chose to wear purple comfortable flat shoes.)
Skydivers presented the American Flag, sailing through the air, then down onto the field where a Boy Scout ran it over to the flag pole and a waiting honor guard raised it up, then gave it a 4-gun salute. The speeches were even great - the principal talked of Alice in Wonderland and likened her adventures to those the graduating students were likely to face. And told the kids that they could actually have their “cake and eat it, too,” and pointed to a table that was laden with cupcakes for each student, and each cupcake held a picture of a graduating student.
The show was great – watching the back-flips and inane gesturing of the kids as they received their diplomas. No sooner had the last graduate received his diploma than a cannon blast rent the air, followed by 4 others in quick succession! I had to search under the bleachers for my heart! What a day! What a great event to honor the graduates! It was fun to be there – Thank you, Dayna, for inviting us.
Today in Relief Society our instructor was encouraging us to be the person God wants you to be. She asked if we could think of a time when we had had to choose between the worldly path and the Godly path. I thought of at least 4 zillion times – duh! But there was a time, that I came very close to veering . . .I was writing a romance novel. I joined the Romance Writers of America and was attending their meetings. Several of these ladies were published with Harlequin and Avon and it was quite exciting to be included in their group – they knew so much, had been through all the ropes. They had various ways to seclude themselves from the everyday world so they could write and they invited me participate in these methods with them. Most of them, when they were on deadline, would go away to a cabin or hotel where they would not be disturbed with normal life. Since I had a family I felt quite obligated to, I always declined. At one time they were all into a method that was probably a self-hypnosis thing. They all met at a cabin and attempted to get into a trance-like state where they could actually meet their characters. I didn’t much feel like I wanted to be a zombie in company with a bunch of grown ladies (and since I had a family I felt quite obligated to), I declined. These things were not a great temptation to me. However, we all have our weak spot. And mine was that I did want to have my novel published, and my goal was to be published with Harlequin. I wanted it bad!At the annual Romance Writers conference, I was able to meet with an editor from Harlequin and she read my sample chapters and outline and told me that she was impressed. She told me that she would be interested in working with me, but I would need to change my style to come up to Harlequin standards. What this meant was that I needed to add some steamy sex to my book. And not all that much steam, either, just a little sizzle. So I agreed to give it a try.I began to rewrite my book, including all the editor’s suggestions. It was coming along nicely, until my son asked me if he could read it. Oops! Also, at this time, I was serving as a counselor in the Young Women’s organization. Oops! What would happen if one of my young women were to read this novel (as they surely would, because they all knew I was struggling to write one.) Oops!The new version came to a screeching halt as did my career with Harlequin.
Before I move on to other subjects, I have one more note to add about our drippy ash tree:
I had gotten used to scanning that buggy tree every few minutes to see what new birds I might find dining there. Then on May 21 the birds were suddenly scarce. I thought I had found the cause when I saw perched on a high limb a gray cat. What was a cat doing up there so high? I grabbed the binocs and was flabbergasted to see that it wasn’t a cat at all, but a little Western Screech Owl! He (just guessing on that) stayed there all day posing for photographs, and then in the early evening he flew off.
