Monday morning the kids and I drove up to a little town called West Point, to pick up my friend Emily. She had flown up from San Diego to see me while I was in the States. I am so glad she did. She died 5 1/2 weeks later. Today, in real time, September 22 is her funeral. I have put off making this blog entry until now, as my way to honor her, remember her, and somehow take part in saying goodbye to her, along with the many others who are attending her funeral. She touched many more people than I think she realized, and I hope she is being made aware of it now.
Also, I have almost no pictures of this visit 🙁 because my camera battery died. Emily took tons of photos for me, though, expecting to email them to me later, when I needed them. But that will never happen now, so I will just have to rely on my own memory and hope it doesn’t fade too quickly.
The little town where Emily was staying with her brother and sister-in-law is within walking distance to the entrance to Antelope Island State Park. So after she joined us, we drove over there. I wanted to show the kids the Great Salt Lake and give them the opportunity to go in it. On the drive over the causeway the kids were fascinated by the heat mirages. They would look ahead, and be sure there was water covering the road, they could see it shimmering and everything! But as we drove closer to that spot, there would be no water there. Ooh, but maybe that was the water up there! Pretty much until we got to the island. 🙂
We stopped to check out the visitor center first, and Emily and Sarah decided to stay in the car. Sarah because she had tried to go in once already but was stopped by the stuffed animal heads on the wall. Emily, I think because she thought it would be a quick trip and not worth the hassle of getting her out of the car. From the outside, it did look to be quite a dud. But after about 3 minutes inside, I knew I had to get those two to join us. The gift shop was awesome! 🙂
So I promised Sarah that I would make sure she didn’t run into anything hard while she covered her eyes, as the scary animals couldn’t be seen from the gift shop. And getting Emily in and out of the car was much easier than I think she realized. And now, of course, it has become an honor. Anyway, we must have spent at least 30 minutes in that little gift shop. We got a couple magnets to add to our collection, since we couldn’t decide between the two. The kids all got cute, indigenous to Utah, stuffed animals, a giant salt rock crystal to share made from Great Salt Lake salt, and Emily picked out some really cute earrings to remember her visit.
Down the hall, past the scary animal heads, which by the way Sarah is getting really good at walking with her head face planted into my side, there was a theater where they were showing a movie on the history of the island. Only it didn’t have a whole lot on the history of the island, it was mostly just clips of the animals that live there. Still, it was very nice to watch, and we got a good laugh out of the lady poet who kept waxing on about the mystical power of the island, blah blah blah.
We drove further into the island and came to a cove where we could park and go down to the water. Nicholas, Sophie, Alexandra and I walked all the way down to the water. Sarah and Noah stayed on the sand. There were a lot of flies buzzing everywhere, and the water really doesn’t smell good. Well, the brine shrimp that live in the water really don’t smell good. Really, really, really don’t smell good. I had forgotten just how stinky it was, actually, since the last time I remember coming here was as a kid, about 9 or 10 years old. Nick really wanted to put his toe in the water, just to say he had, but the flies were totally freaking him out. So I volunteered to go first, with Alexandra and Nick right behind me.
It was kind of cool the way the flies would be all over the ground, so thick you could hardly see the sand underneath them. But as soon as you put your foot down, they would part, like a curtain being opened on a stage. And stay open until you had passed by. We walked at least 15 feet through those things and didn’t step on a single one. The water was warm, but no one wanted to try and float in it. Too stinky. So we trudged through the wet sand a bit, and then turned around to head back through the Fly Red Sea, and the car. It smelled like the water for several days afterward.
After a late lunch, we drove down to Kaysville and played at a school playground for a while, waiting until it was time to go to our friend Hyrum’s house for dinner. Emily and I had a really nice conversation about several deep topics, but the kids kept interrupting us to point out that they were a) hot, b) thirsty, and c) in desperate need of a bathroom. In fact, Alexandra ended up using the grass as her toilet, the need was so great. So I called Hyrum to see if it was okay that we showed up early. He was happy to have us come. Hallelujiah!
He designed his house (he’s an architect) and it was even featured in the Parade of Homes a few years ago. It is gorgeous! So airy and spacious without being huge and pretentious. There are lots of fun colors on the walls, the stair rails have stars cut into them, and the very best thing of all is the guest bathroom. Well, specifically the silver sign on the wall to the right of the door, with a sliding knob that you can move to “vacant” or “occupied” as you enter. My kids must have gone to the bathroom at least 3 times each, just so they could move that knob. So fun!
We chatted briefly with Hyrum, and then he had to run to take his son, McKay, to football practice. His daughters, Natalie and Corinne, stayed and played hostess, while my kids gave themselves a tour of the house (with permission) and then checked out all the cool books in the built in bookshelves in the living room. I haven’t seen Emily since just before we moved to Switzerland, and I haven’t seen Hyrum since just after Nick was born, so it was a special treat to hang out with both of them together that night. I first met Emily as a shy 12 year-old beehive at Stake Girls’ camp. She was in the other ward that met in our building, but she was also 2 years older, so I hadn’t had much opportunity to get to know her before that. I remember a group of us hanging around the shallow end of the pool, and she came up, asked one of the men there to help her into the water, and started swimming away. (I didn’t swim very well at this point, and I thought it was amazing how well she swam using only her arms.) Anyway, from then on we were friends. She and Hyrum have actually known each other longer, since they were both babies. Like I said, a special evening with old friends.
When Katherine, Hyrum’s wife came home, she gave us the official tour. Their closet was my favorite part. It has this easy to reach bars that you pull on, and the entire clothes rack from the very top of the closet, right underneath the ceiling, pulls down to a level you can reach, without having any of the clothes fall, or get knocked off. Perfect for a little shortie like me! Also he designed these cool geometric patterns for their wall, hard to explain, wish I had taken a picture. They covered the entire wall, were made out of intersecting pieces of wood, but were painted the same color as the wall. So it added texture and pattern without being overwhelming or distracting. Amazing.
What I think is especially cool is that I remember way back in high school when he said he wanted to be an architect someday. And here he is, doing it! Most people’s life ambitions don’t work out like that, so it’s cool when it does.
Hyrum grilled hot dogs and we ate out in their gorgeous backyard. The kids were in heaven, jumping on their trampoline and talking to Corinne, the youngest daughter. They were swapping stories about the differences in American and Swiss dungeons, I mean schools, and I am not sure what else. 🙂
It was such a nice evening, and we stayed far longer than I had originally planned, because I just didn’t want to leave. Visiting them again is definitely going to be a priority the next time we make it to Utah. Of course, now, with Emily being gone, the visit becomes even more special, since it was the last time we were all together. How glad I am that did that, that we stayed so late, that we came earlier, to make the visit as long as possible. No regrets there, at all.
The next day, we ditched some of the kids at Steven and Cristie’s (I swear having family close by is the best.thing.ever!) and drove Emily up to Park City. She had never been and Chris wanted to do some shopping at the outlets there, so it was a win-win. Sophie came along as well, because shopping is her thing. Well, clothes shopping especially. We got tons of stuff for the kids, and Chris found a really nice rain jacket for himself. But the best was going into Bath and Body Works. Emily and I both love that place. I think it may have been on a joint shopping trip with her that we first discovered that store. I remember it being brand new in the mall, and we had so much fun smelling all the different scents, trying to decide on one. It was no different this time. Only, I had already bought a bunch of shower gel and lotion a couple weeks earlier, so this time I stocked up on their foaming hand soap. I had to, it was on sale. 🙂 Emily got a few, too. Hey, at least we like good, clean fun. haha
The plan was for Emily and I to meet two of her other friends for dinner in Sandy. But we were having so much fun in Park City, that she had to text them and say we would be coming later. One couldn’t make it anymore, and the other one we never heard back from. So after we got home, and I put the kids to bed, Emily and I ended up going out to dinner by ourselves. I was secretly glad, because I hadn’t really wanted to share any of my precious time with her, and I didn’t know these people at all. We stayed up until 2:30 in the morning talking. I know, it seems like that’s all we did, huh? But we hadn’t seen each other for over ten years, and there was lots to catch up on. Yes, we had stayed in touch during that time, with letters, emails and phone calls, but it’s not the same as actually being with the person.
So anyway, we finally both went to bed, so that we could get an early start in the morning. I was driving her up to the airport the next day, and she was meeting the girl she wasn’t able to see the night before after she had checked in her bags. It ended up working out perfectly. I helped her pack as well, not that she couldn’t have done it herself, but that way we could just talk some more. 🙂 And we talked the whole way there, and while we were waiting in the check in line. Finally it was her turn, so I hugged her goodbye and left the airport. I still can’t believe that became the last time I ever saw her.
My only consolation, and it really does help, is that I DID get to see her so recently. I know she is happier now, free from her wheelchair, free from pain, free from worrying about being alone her entire life, free from family worries, but I still miss her. I am still selfish. I still want her to be around, chatting with me on the computer, laughing about crazy, silly things, using me as a sounding board for issues she was having, because it helped me understand things better, too. She will never be replaced. I love you, my friend. Thank you for making such a great effort to come see me one last time. I will cherish it always.