Martin Luther King Day

I'm going to remember as many details as I can about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

2012. I remember going to Walmart with my mom. I think this might have been the time that we were talking about someone's marital status and as we got out of the car, I said, "The only good thing about her husband is the money," and I wondered what the man walking by thought. I said that I wanted to get some candy for my Jar of Hearts that I would take to Provo. I got some large conversation hearts. My mom wanted some gummy cinnamon hearts. She liked the color of the cherry ones better (a brighter red) but preferred the cinnamon flavor. I think we bought a printer, but I actually didn't take it to Provo. When we were driving home, KSL was having a recap of some awards show and they said they were pleased when Madonna called out Lady Gaga. (Incidentally, I don't think that "Born This Way" plagiarizes Madonna.) Then my mom started talking about the Celtic Woman CD my dad got her for Christmas, saying my dad is "so funny" because she had never expressed any interest in anything like that. We started listening to that CD, and I was telling my mom about how one of my mission companions had had it. Then I drove back to Provo.

2011.I think this was the day my windshield was replaced.  I think this was also the day that my cousin Joey came over for some reason and he was hiding from Allie. I was paranoid about driving back to Provo in case it started snowing or I hit a pothole or something but I didn't know where the emergency light button was. Joey went out to the car to find it. When I expressed my worry about it snowing or something, he said I could take State Street all the way to Provo. We laughed at that idea.

2010. I went to Kohl's with my mom, sister, and niece. I found a clearance Christmas shirt with Oscar the Grouch. I got it, along with a St. Patrick's Day t-shirt. They found a red hooded jacket that they all really liked, but Nan worried that it was too small and Allie would soon outgrow it. Allie had a fit because she wanted it. But my mom said she would get it for her if she would calm down, because my mom liked the way it looked. At the checkout, my mom offered to get Allie a stuffed animal instead of  the jacket, but she still wanted the jacket. On our way home, we went to the Atlantis Burger drive-thru. Allie was being kind of crazy. She was shrieking, so my mom and her mom told her she couldn't do that. She started giggling a lot, saying there was an owl on a car outside. I looked and I saw the bird. I said, "I don't think that's an owl, but it is a big bird!" It was a grouse or something. When the owners of the car came out, they just drove off, and the bird stayed on their hood. It might have finally flown off when they got on the road. Then I drove back to Provo. I think I went to dinner group and they had bought bagged Valentine cookies that had little messages on them. I was glad to have a dessert I could eat. They started talking about how conversation hearts are hard and unpleasant, but I said that they had changed and they were no longer hard.

2009. I suspect that Elder Wilson and I stayed with the elders in Airway Heights that evening because of zone conference the next morning, but I don't recall details.

2008. We went and played dodgeball at the church where the Franklin Park elders had church. Elder Ashton and Elder "Ech" had come down from Deer Park. I kept getting hit in the head with the ball; sometimes it knocked my glasses off. After the fourth time, I didn't want to play anymore. It was a full moon that night, so I was talking about how I couldn't stay outside too long or else I would turn into a wolf. We were in a car wash when Elder Chun asked me if I really thought I was a werewolf. I neither confirmed it or denied it but simply said, "What do you think?" We visited the Cunninghams.  The Cunninghams were a family that shifted in and out of activity and they had been fellowshipping a woman named Debbie who was almost baptized but couldn't be because she was living with her boyfriend. They had just had dinner, and Sister Cunningham offered us some, but we declined. Sister Cunningham was cleaning (or maybe she was actually making dinner) and they stored their pans in their oven. Brother Cunningham started lambasting Elder Chun about the incident with Debbie, that we had not made it clear that she had to be married and that his wife was the one who had to tell her. (In fact, we had previously discussed it with Sister Cunningham, and she said she thought Debbie knew.) Then he started making an excuse that they weren't going to church to recover from the incident. It was kind of awkward, because I could tell he was addressing Elder Chun (since I was a greenie) and I had my back to him for a lot of the time, but then eventually I turned around. In retrospect, I think Elder Chun did do a lot of things wrong, but that was no excuse for the Cunninghams to go inactive. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The preparation part of today was fun. We went and played dodgeball with the other elders. I got hit in the head several times, each by a different person, and after the fourth time I didn't want to play anymore. I did join in a little later, though.

"Then we went to the Marks's where Elder Johnson and Elder Spahr are. We played a game called Bang! and I got in an intense, long game with Sister Marks.

"After that we came home and cleaned our car since we are trading it in tomorrow for a new one.

"We had a dinner and then were supposed to see the Parrishes, a formerly less-active family, but then they cancelled. Then we went to another appointment but they weren't there. Then we stopped by the Cunninghams and Brother Cunningham chewed us out for setting a date with Debbie. That with the fact that it was a full moon made this not the best evening."

2007. There are two possibilities I can think of for this day. One is that my dad asked me to help him move the new elliptical machine from the Suburban. We had to wear gloves, since it was cold and it had been sitting in the car. The other possibility is that my mom's friend Jackie was over and Allie was sitting on one of the feet of the elliptical. I moved it to give her a ride, but she fell off. She got mad at me for going too fast, but Jackie said that maybe she wasn't holding on tight enough. [This entry was taken from my last blog post.]

2004. We were in Fillmore visiting my grandparents (my grandpa called the holiday "Black Monday") and I was wearing a Snoopy shirt. We went somewhere; my mom rode with my grandma in our car, and I rode with my dad and my grandpa in theirs. My grandpa sat in the backseat and let me sit in the front. I kept closing my eyes, and my dad kept asking if I was falling asleep, but I wasn't.

2003. This was a very eventful weekend, but I can't specifically remember what happened on the Monday.

1996. My cousins were all over at our house. They were playing some raucous game. I said I wanted to play a Martin Luther King game. My brother said that then we could play someone getting shot. Even at seven years old I recognized that as kind of insensitive. [I also took this one from my last post.]