The last FHE blog covered some (not all!) of Grant’s brushes with danger and never fear, Jewel had her own version to worry me with! (Is it any wonder my hair is white!) There was a time when she and her girlfriends would chum for rides on bullet bikes and I lost a lot of sleep summer nights with the windows open, listening to the whine of them, miles away on State Street. I used to try to pray her home, which didn’t work, so I’d pray harder/longer, and one night had the sudden calming confirmation that she had her agency which would not be removed for my sake, so thereafter, which was much more comforting, I prayed that she would cross paths with good people of influence. I still pray that, and count Johnny as one of them.
When Grant was in gestation I was asked in a birthing class what I thought my greatest problem was going to be with a newborn and I said, naively, “Lack of sleep.” Well lack of sleep with a babe is peanuts compared to lack of sleep teen years! There was a general authority who spoke on the recommendation of avoiding danger, that it was true “the very hairs on our head are numbered” but we can circumvent that with risk-taking. Grant wasn’t happy hearing that advice. Numerous times people would tell us that he passed them on State Street, they in a car, he on his bike, coming home from Provo. We both worried about him and admired him. I did learn something as a consequence of my FHE #6 post. I know who taught Grant the wind drafting trick. ☺ Kudos (I guess) to Grant who kept quiet back when his dad ragged about it.
Once I had this extremely vivid dream. We’d had a red Jeep and I was driving in it around Deer Creek Reservoir with Grant and Jewel. The road turned to dirt and then to a trail as we purposefully continued. We then walked the trail which became very narrow on the middle of a sheer cliff, which we edged along. Suddenly and practically with glee, Grant leapt into the abyss, leaving Jewel and me behind to make our way in this world without him!, and I woke up in tears.
These pictures are of Jewel and me at my annual work summer conference, where one of the gimmicks at the food vendor show was getting your Got Milk picture taken with the milk mustache. It was usually held in St. George, and several times Jewel went with me. She even looked forward to it. All my bosses and coworkers over the years have made a big fuss over her (and now are fussing over the grandchildren!). She also got better acquainted with some of them from going to Provo School district year-round 5th and 6th grades and one semester her junior year.
They didn’t see that much of Grant over the years, except when he kept his lunch in our fridge for a time during his premarriage Y years, and he’d write things in foreign languages on our white board, which got our vendors adding things in even more languages. I added this one: Morgen, Morgen, nur nicht heute, sagen alle faule Leaute. (Tomorrow, tomorrow, only not today, say all the lazy people.) We could never get him to tell us what his said, and only one of them was ever deciphered, by a visitor, probably the Portuguese one as opposed to Hebrew, Latin and Greek. By then he had an even fancier bike we’d lock up for him while he was on campus and the delivery guys would ride it around in glee inside the warehouse.
We don’t have any pictures of Jewel’s actual graduation, so it’s a good thing she wanted a professional picture taken! ☺ She had a video camera and gave me instructions just before the ceremony. I faithfully videoed her walking down the Marriott Center steps and onto the stage, and other bits and pieces. So when we got home, we had great pictures of the floor! (Turned it on when it was down, and off when it was up!)
Jewel’s employment history as a teen started at Brick Oven in Provo where she ended up in charge of balancing tills/checking out the waitresses (who were all older than she was!). (She was going to Provo High and often had a hard time staying awake in her first class though it’s entirely possible it wasn’t just the work late hours that caused it ☺.) Then she worked at The Gap, Border’s where she loved the employee discount, and briefly at Winger’s (just before she moved to Vegas). P.S., Provo High was wonderful compared to P.G. High - if she missed a class she had to take a pre-first period class to get back in and if she missed the first make-up class she had to pay for the next one. Much better plan than P.G. High, which just left you a phone message for your student to erase before you had the chance to hear it! (Not that mine did that, mind you.) ((It also helped having email access to teachers! ☺ ))
These pictures are of Jewel and me at my annual work summer conference, where one of the gimmicks at the food vendor show was getting your Got Milk picture taken with the milk mustache. It was usually held in St. George, and several times Jewel went with me. She even looked forward to it. All my bosses and coworkers over the years have made a big fuss over her (and now are fussing over the grandchildren!). She also got better acquainted with some of them from going to Provo School district year-round 5th and 6th grades and one semester her junior year.
They didn’t see that much of Grant over the years, except when he kept his lunch in our fridge for a time during his premarriage Y years, and he’d write things in foreign languages on our white board, which got our vendors adding things in even more languages. I added this one: Morgen, Morgen, nur nicht heute, sagen alle faule Leaute. (Tomorrow, tomorrow, only not today, say all the lazy people.) We could never get him to tell us what his said, and only one of them was ever deciphered, by a visitor, probably the Portuguese one as opposed to Hebrew, Latin and Greek. By then he had an even fancier bike we’d lock up for him while he was on campus and the delivery guys would ride it around in glee inside the warehouse.
We don’t have any pictures of Jewel’s actual graduation, so it’s a good thing she wanted a professional picture taken! ☺ She had a video camera and gave me instructions just before the ceremony. I faithfully videoed her walking down the Marriott Center steps and onto the stage, and other bits and pieces. So when we got home, we had great pictures of the floor! (Turned it on when it was down, and off when it was up!)
Jewel’s employment history as a teen started at Brick Oven in Provo where she ended up in charge of balancing tills/checking out the waitresses (who were all older than she was!). (She was going to Provo High and often had a hard time staying awake in her first class though it’s entirely possible it wasn’t just the work late hours that caused it ☺.) Then she worked at The Gap, Border’s where she loved the employee discount, and briefly at Winger’s (just before she moved to Vegas). P.S., Provo High was wonderful compared to P.G. High - if she missed a class she had to take a pre-first period class to get back in and if she missed the first make-up class she had to pay for the next one. Much better plan than P.G. High, which just left you a phone message for your student to erase before you had the chance to hear it! (Not that mine did that, mind you.) ((It also helped having email access to teachers! ☺ ))
Grant started with newspapers for years, a summer doing grounds work for Provo School District, a summer cutting sod, and putting in vinyl fences. The district wanted him back but he didn’t care for the crassness of the man in charge of the men who were in charge of the boys. The sod employer wanted him back but he thought the equipment was a little too risky. (Imagine that!) The fence guy one day made the other boys watch Grant dig post holes, and embarrassed him by saying they should take a lesson from the skinniest kid who was the hardest worker.
