This is my town

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Thats Gabber on the truck bed representing the American Leadership Volley Ball team.

I was 17 the day I loaded up into Loris van and left home . Mom handed me a family picture threw the open car window just before we pulled out. I was all to happy to start a new life somewhere else. Im not sure how far up the scale Rexburg Idaho is on the great escapes list but it was just the ticket for me in 1982. Quite possibly I was telling myself something that I have taken many years to figure out.

Scottish Days are big around these here parts.

Montgomery Gentry put it pretty well.

Where I was born, where I was raised.Where I keep all my yesterdays.Where I ran off 'cos I got mad,An' it came to blows with my old man.Where I came back to settle down,It's where they'll put me in the ground: This is my town

Im a small town girl. I like the quiet, I like to see the stars in a smogless sky, I like the smell of hay. I want more space than I want malls.

Now for some Spanish Fark is country folk for those in Genola its a big city . Today I went to sit out in the neighboring streets to watch the "Fiesta Days" parade . The great thing about a hometown parade is its a snapshot of what the place is all about. I took afew pictures and I have to say I chuckled more than once. Mostly my heart swelled with pride, I liked what I saw and what the city was saying about who we are.

Missionaries and Pioneers sing as they walk

I think some of my family who live in places like Burley ,Kanab, and Farr West know what Im talkin about. You can chase alot of beautiful adventures and see wonderful and unforgetable places, but there is nothing as comforting and healing as home.

Who decides what is a weed and what is a flower?

Almost every night at dusk I take the dogs for their evening adventure in the fields. I walk and enjoy the surroundings. Most of the field is full of dried pricker bushes and stubby grass but their are also these "weeds" that grow up in the sidewalk or out in the middle of unhospitable dry land. Im quite amazed at the colors shapes and the persistance of a weed. Thats when I thought to myself what makes a flower a flower and a weed a weed? After all the connotations are extremes. Weeds are often knarly, uninvited, misplaced and have glareing in perfections. Flowers are mostly glorious blooms with succulent foliage. They usually demand the best of circumstance to prosper.

Monday Kate called me from the infermary at Camp .

It was 98 degress and 75% humidity there in New York. She is at the pool all day and had been in to much heat. We talked for almost 2 hours. It was wonderful. She talked about her boys with enthusiasum and delight. The dances they do, the songs they sing, how one refers to himself in 3rd person and another dresses in full rain gear every day just in case it should rain. She loves her job and refers to it as a blessing. In the early morning she does instructional swim and it is her glory time. In the water one on one they learn together about one another. I know these "boys" are preteens and some are upwards of 30 years. Kate and I have a kindred bond to the world of Autism. My work at Scenic View with my"boys" was one of the finest experiences of my life. In the learned world and by all accounts and diagnostic criteria Autism is a disorder.

Diagnosis, disorders, diseases they are weeds in a human world. Something that didnt go quite right. A reflection of imperfection. Some days I just wonder who's really in charge of defining what normal is. Why is normal so great anyway? I know why I like normal, it is easy. I am unhindered to move about just as Iam. I Love a normal day no pain , gliding along, almost without thought or requirement. I dont wish for abnormal it can be so painful awkward and tiresome.

But just from my vision I want to say something about those whos lives have taken moments, time periods, or have entire lives of abnormal. Iam touched by the effort, the strain and the daily pain even at the hands of the "normal". Diagnosis, disorders, disease looks pretty noble to me.

God must have known whom of us could still bloom in the sidewalk and uninhabitable places .