Sunday, November 1, 2009

80--CONTINUED--27--MY LIFE CHANGED

When Arlo and I returned home from our mission, it was good to get home. Our family had redone the outside of our house and it looked so nice. We were pleased. We were assigned to talk in all of the wards in our stake. I learned things about Arlo that I had never heard before. He loved our mission and it was good for both of us.

Gordon Dean was living in our house when we got home. It was good to have him there while we were gone and it was good for him to have a place to stay. We had been home a short time,(the end of October) when he died. That was a sad thing for all of us. We loved him so.

I went back to work at the library. Arlo spent some time over at the old garage. He had a wood working machine, that he enjoyed. We went to the cabin and spent some time. It was a quiet time for us. On the 7th of December, I came home from work and found him dead in his chair. My life changed.

I was glad to have my job. It was such a change for me. I didn't sleep much. Sometimes I would read all night and get up and go to work. I raised a garden that year, too. I got myself very busy. I was on the cemetrary board for a number of years and still was. I was president of Hospital Auxiliary, I was on a genealogy board at the Alamosa Library. I was on a board of directors for a building that was to house older people. I was gone before they finished it. I was the County Republican Woman. I didn't give myself any time for thinking.

Elma and Hazel were on their mission and I felt so very alone. I was glad when Larry and Jeanette came to spend the summer with me. I look back and realize that I was not a very good hostess for them. I loved having them there and I enjoyed the children. Larry built new cupboards in the kitchen for me. I hated leaving them behind when I left. They were so nice. My home was nicer than it had ever been.

Don and Gloria were there for me too. They were so considerate of me. When I moved to Mesa my life changed. I missed my children and the family in Colorado, but I loved working in the temple. I bought the honda from my boss at the library, so I was able to go home at least once a year. If there were special things going on I went more often than that. I still enjoy going back to Colorado.

Sometimes the hard things in life help us to grow in a way that we would not otherwise. I love my life and my family. The Lord has been good to me.

1 comment:

Kent said...

This year has made me really aware of mortality and how the life of one effects the lives of those around them.

I am really sorry that I was not more sensitive to those difficult times in your life when you needed more support.

I love you, Mom, and I am so very grateful for your strength and righteousness.


Bingham family, about 1936