cc: file, Sara and Des, Diane Cluff, Tony Hafen, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Eric and Annette Krueger, Eric and Renee Miner, Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, and Ivan and Chell Warner.
"Saturday turned into one of those days. My friend Bill Bavinger has decided to move back to Norman, Oklahoma where he grew up. His Father died earlier this year. His Mom has not been able to keep up with the house. Bill has had a hard time making ends meet, including rent and monthly bills. And the move seems like a good thing for him, and for his Mom. At High Priest meeting last week, I invited quorum members to spend Saturday morning helping me help Bill load up what turned out to be a Ryder Truck (I felt a little like like I betrayed Ben). I have good friends. Corey and David Grua, Floyd Lunt, Harold Burnham, and Larry Law were at 1307 Emerald Green at 8:30 AM for a full morning of work. And I do mean a full morning.
Moving is always more effort than one thinks it will be. I remember in Dallas feeling like I worked for a moving company for many years. Not too long after we moved to Dallas I was called as the Elder's Quorum President. We had about 30 elders and about 103 prospective elders, only a couple of whom were active. The ward consisted of three demographic groups. There were the rich folks who lived in Highland Park and University Park. There were the Mexican-Americans (many of whom were not citizens), and there were the students and young professionals. We had a major dental college, medical college, and SMU in the Dallas 1st Ward Boundaries. The folks in University Park and Highland Park were pretty stable, and provided a lot of the leadership of the ward. However, we had 10% of the total membership of the ward move in or out of the ward each month. This works out to 120% of the membership of the ward moved in or out of the ward each year. It also means there were one or two Saturdays every month spent packing someone's U-Haul or Ryder Truck. I got pretty good at packing trucks. Got pushed down a half a flight of stairs by a washer once. It wasn't hurt because it landed on me. I wasn't hurt too bad either, because it wasn't moving very fast. I still remember those days of service. I still feel good about all we were able to do to help people. I enjoy that feeling and am glad to help anyone who is moving.
I have often described Bill Bavinger's condominium as having more information in it than most countries have. Little did I realize how much that much information weighs. Bill had the biggest truck which could be rented. He also had a U-Haul trailer, which we attached to the back of the Ryder truck. We packed them full of stuff. He had most of his stuff boxed up when we got there at 9:30. We worked until about 1:30. There were 14 large book cases, and all of the books and folders which had been on those large bookcases. There were twice as many boxes as I have in my bedroom (I have about 120 boxes from Grandpa and Grandma Nelson's basement and from my old storage shed stacked in my bedroom, waiting for time to sort through them, throw stuff out, organize and file other stuff, etc.). My hand and my stomach have big bruises. I was totally wiped out the rest of Saturday. I did get a haircut, check the P.O. Box, fix the antenna on the cell phone, buy Rob some birthday presents, and respond to some e-mail. However, mostly after I got home I read the paper, watched Hercules, Xena, two episodes of Mission Impossible, and veged out, feeling every muscle in my body speaking to me. It was a good feeling, and it was enlightening. It reminded me why I do not like to move. It reminded me of the moves we have made over the years. It reminded me of all of the moves your Mom made growing up. It reminded me why I have tried to create good and stable memories around a place, namely 1307 Emerald Green, for each of you. It reminded me of how I define home. It reminded me of Roice moving to L.A. earlier this year, and of Melanie moving to Austin for school. Then at midnight Bill called from Norman to say he made it and to express excessive thanks. He just got a letter saying a European group is going to invest up to $400 million in his efforts. He has said for years his Mom and I are the only other owners of his technology. I told him that when his technology replaces the Microsoft Operating System, and he is the richest man on the earth, I just want him to remember there are some good folks in the LDS Church. He told me he knows that for sure. I also have stressed to him I have sufficient for my needs and only want access to money to pursue projects which make a difference. We understand each other. It was a good day.
Received a nice letter from Paul on Friday, which I will forward copies of to all of you kids. For the others listening in, he said:
Roice and I are corresponding weekly now. I will get a private place for his letters for all of you to be able to review soon. Hopefully this next weekend. Ben started playing Chess again (he put me on-guard). Melanie sent me a nice note. She got A's on both of her first two tests. She is tutoring a little boy who she has really come to love. Sara is mad at me and is not talking to me right now because of my insistance on curfew and her interpretation of my words as putting down your Mom. Rob just got beat in chess (and on his birthday too). Hopefully he will forgive me and try again. Speaking of birthday's, I bought myself a birthday present Thursday. The `check engine immediately' light went on in the Saturn, the mileage turned past 49,000, and I didn't have time or a way to get the car in to get it looked at. So after giving a talk to 16 Amoco professoinals on Visualization on Thursday I drove by the Saturn dealership and visited with my Palestinian friend Joe Alberts. We decided I could trade the green Saturn in for a 1998 Saturn, slightly reduce the car payments, and have the new car to take to the SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) convention in Dallas on Sunday afternoon. It's pretty much the same, except the color, a larger engine, a spoiler, leather seats, and a manual transmission. It rides very nice.
As I mentioned above, about 12:00 last night Bill Bavinger called me from Oklahoma to tell me he arrived safely and to express his gratitude for all of the help. It brought tears to my eyes to feel appreciated by someone whom I consider a good friend. Moving is hard. I hope each of you help those who can use your help, have the same feelings of joy I am attempting to describe, and are willing to let other's help you when you could use some help. We are all interdependent. We all need each other. Please know I am always going to be here and will do anything legal and within my power which makes common sense to help each of you. As Roice and I have been saying in our e-mail's, it is because we love each other."