01 Jan 2006 #0601.html

Matt's Eagle Court of Honor

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Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to this week's "Thoughtlet."

These words are my personal diary and a weekly review of ideas, beliefs, thoughts, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you: my children, my family, and my friends.

"Sunday the 25th of December, Christmas Day, we only had sacrament meeting. Paul and Melanie and their families, as well as Rachel and Matt joined us. I was surprised to learn from Sister Linda Conners that Matt told her we were going to have an Eagle Court of Honor for him. He had told us over the phone he did not want to have one. So we were not going to fight it, and just said, `Oh Well!' Then this news came, from a very unlikely source, and it turned our week upside down.

Actually Linda Conners is not such an unlikely source, once one thinks about it it just a little bit. She was the teacher's assistant in Matt's biology class last year. Matt started the year out changing his name to Charles at school, and the only reason I knew it was because Sister Conners told me. I think she kind of took him under her wing and helped him more than I realized. I know she was pleased that I was able to help James a tiny bit, when he earned his Eagle. And Linda is the kind of person who does not let even a perceived favor go unrewarded. Mostly I think she just likes Matt. Anyway, I was very pleased that she helped us get Matt's Eagle Court of Honor back on track.

I sent out the following e-mail Sunday evening:

Andrea had sent letters out several months before, and had responses from many folks, including:

I don't remember Monday. There were several e-mail responses to our invitation to attend Matt's Eagle Court of Honor:

Andrea and I went down to the new Scout office to get blank programs, gifts for Matt's scout leaders, napkins for deserts, etc. It was the first time I had been to the new scout office at Ella and North 610. Very nice facility. There is a beautiful wall outside, with the names of Scouts who have got their Eagle Rank over the last few years. Roice's name is there. Roice, when you read this, it would do you good to go down there and to reflect on your Eagle Rank. In fact, I think it would be worthwhile for each of you 10 kids to go down and spend a half an hour walking around the grounds, and reflect on what this accomplishment means to you, to your siblings, and possibly more importantly to your children.

I put the Agenda together. We selected an agenda with an eagle and an eagle badge on the cover. On the inside cover were these words:

On the other inside was the program:

Everything went as the agenda outlined. There was reason for a heart attack at the beginning. I had borrowed a projector from work to project digital images from scout camps while I played the ballads I had written at these scout camps. The power cord was missing. Andrea suggested Radio Shack, I drove up to Fry and I-10, they had the right kind of chord, and the project worked. Paul ran the projector for me. He was not able to keep up with the songs playing the movies and photos. We did not have a chance to practice. Oh well! Matt seemed to enjoy it. Paul said it was more fun to watch him than to watch the photos of where we had been on our scout trips. The photos taken are at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/10_Matt/051227_Matt_Eagle. It was very special for me to have so many members of the family there to support Matt. Thanks to each of you who made the effort to be there on Tuesday night. I realize, for example, it was a big hassle for Jared and Melanie to wait to go home until that late, when Jared needed to be to work on Wednesday morning. Thanks again!

When I was cleaning up and making notes for these Thoughtlets, I came across a scrap of paper from the Hafen Reunion Fast and Testimony Meeting on the 5th of September 2004, which had a Jewish saying quoted by Bob Moss which could be two lines to a Prime Words stanza:

For the men in my family, the scouting program is an important part of this heritage. I do hope each of you have some positive memories of the scouting experience I strived to provide each of you. I hope you will each find a way to pass this heritage on to the next generation, including doing a better job of sharing it with your daughters than I did. It is easy to make wrong assumptions, like all girls don't like camping and the outdoors because my wife and or my mother does not like camping and the outdoors. I strongly believe it is important to have a tie with nature's rhythms. Scouting is the way I chose to share this belief.

The first part of the week was so hectic and different than the usual car pool, sit at the desk, talk to Dave Johnson, work on a project, climb the stars, car pool back home routine, that I have no notes about what else happened this week. I remember Grant and Ella Dawn and I went to the park and played. There was a letter from Sister Gillett, our Primary President, specifying the new Ward Meeting Schedule: Opening Exercises 1:00-1:15; Primary Class 1:15-1:55; Sharing Time 2:00-2:40; and Sacrament Meeting 2:50-4:00. I remember spending a lot of spare time working on my Red Cove project (0604.html). In fact, Andrea was not pleased, as a specific example, that while Paul and Kate and her were watching the New Years celebrations on Saturday evening , I was in the office working on putting together images for the Red Cove web pages (http://www.walden3d.com/Red_Cove). Oh well! There is no real financial upside with GDC. It has been great for maintenance and for clotting the financial drain of working on my own. However, it will never create enough money to pay off the credit card bills, the house, the cars, provide a retirement fund, and money for missions. And so I make choices and pursue dreams. And our neighbors can set of thousands of dollars worth of firecrackers, or there can be big spectacles on television, and it is very easy for me to ignore the distractions.

There are two things I remember about Sunday. First, how good Grant was in Primary. I was really impressed with his behavior, how at home he felt, and his interaction with the other kids. Second, that President Pickerd was sitting on the stand, and had Bishop Harlan call two of visitors to the stand to bear their testimonies: Steve Jones who has been at the Air Force Academy; and Paul. Paul, you were great. I still hear comments about how you said `Everybody in the Ward looks like they are getting older except President Steward and Brother Rowbury, and they seem to be getting younger.' And it got me to reflect and cite my mind forward (Alma 13:1) to when Matt will visit in the future, bear his testimony, and I will recall all that went into Matt's Eagle Court of Honor."

Since the 38th week of 1996 I have written a weekly "Thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me). Until the 43rd week of 2004 I sent these out as an e-mail. They were intended to be big thoughts which mean a lot to me. Over time the process evolved into a personal diary. These notes were shared with my family because I know how important the written word can be. Concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life, I thought this was a good way to reach those I love. It no longer feels right to send out an e-mail and "force" my kids and my family to be aware of my life and struggles.

Everyone has their own life to lead, and their own struggles to work through. I will continue this effort, and will continue to make my notes publicly accessible (unless I learn of misuse by someone who finds out about them, and then will aggressively pursue a legal remedy to copyright infringement and I will put the Thoughtlets behind a password).

The index to download any of these Thoughtlets is at http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets, or you can e-mail me with questions or requests at rnelson@walden3d.com (note if you are not on my e-mail "whitelist" you must send 2 e-mails within 24 hours of each other in order for your e-mail to not be trashed).

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Copyright © 2006 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.