A very good time was had by all.

Milestones in life.

Mrs. Mahan and I traveled to Nashville, TN over Labor Day weekend. The trip had nothing to do with the holiday however. We went to visit our daughter Stefanie and her family at their home in the Nashville area. We enjoy visiting the city but don't take the opportunity as often as we should to make the trek. I am not a fan of the high humidity since I have spent all my life in the arid Western United States. We go where family reside.

Our son-in-law (Matthew) has been telling us for some time now that the Nashville area has become a favorite destination for bachelorette parties. I must say there was ample evidence of this reality. On the second leg of our flight there (Houston, TX to Nashville) we shared the airplane with several different brides to be and varying portions of their bridal parties. I sat next to one of these women and her maid of honor, there was another party in the row right behind me, and there were at least two others seated several rows in front of Mrs. Mahan.

We arrived in Nashville in time to have an early birthday celebration with our soon to be 6 year old Granddaughter. Our oldest (Jennifer) and her oldest and youngest daughters had arrived the night before so we were able to have a very enjoyable birthday party for Lucy - that allowed her to be the center of attention for a few hours before her older sister would be baptized the next day.

I think Lucy really had fun with everyone focused on her for the afternoon.

That night the Matt Gray Band was scheduled for a couple sets at the Wildhorse Saloon, so we decided to go listen during the earlier set and enjoy a quality dinner. The menu is American fare with a Southern flavor and the food is always good. The Wildhorse Saloon is a family friendly atmosphere during the afternoon and dinner hours. the grandchildren all had fun line dancing and horsing around while we waited for dinner to be brought to the table while listening to the band.

We left after the first set and while Mrs. Mahan and I were waiting outside we quickly noticed wave after wave of twenty something women each group dressed in matching clothing and grinning from ear to ear. I mean dozens of them. Each party bus/wagon/carriage seemed  to also be filled with celebrating young women. I must not have believed it when Matthew first told us about this phenomenon but seeing is believing.

Saturday was a day focused on Michaela. She would be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that afternoon. The morning was spent getting the room for the reception that followed the baptism set up and bringing all the food that had been prepared and placing it in the refrigerator and freezer in the kitchen. It was my privilege to perform the baptism and then to confirm Michaela a member of the Church. It was a wonderful service with about 50 friends and family in attendance.

We spent the evening just enjoying time together as family. The grandchildren all got to bed pretty close to their normal bedtime with the adults spending some quality time together talking and just being together. Jennifer did retire to bed a little earlier than the rest of us as she and the girls had to catch a flight home early the next morning. They were beginning to miss their family and were anxious to get home but also didn't want the weekend in Nashville to be over.

Sunday was a normal day for us - church and then more family time before we headed home to Utah. That trip began early Monday and was uneventful. It is always good to arrive home and this day was no exception. We (read as I) made the decision to fly early so we would have the afternoon to prepare for the coming work week and begin to settle back into our routine. We did.

I am amazed at how quickly these grandchildren are growing up.

I once had a conversation with a man I consider a friend, even though we haven't spoken in over a dozen years, who asked me about the closeness and evident love between our family members. "How did we do it?" he wondered. I'm not sure I understand it even now. My best guess is that we were a large family (8 total) living in a small house with 1 bathroom. We were together a lot.

Cindy (Mrs. Mahan) and I did our best to provide a safe haven for our family. A place of love, respect, and safety. One of our daughters recently wrote a short note to Cindy and me that included, "I loved sharing a room because it meant I never had to be alone when I was scared. I loved our house because it was a safe and happy place to be." ... "The home you and Mom made was a place where I was never embarrassed, and I can't say that about every other place in my life as a kid."

My purpose in sharing the above paragraph is to simply set up this; I see my grandchildren growing up in homes not unlike the one described above. Kudos to our children for continuing the tradition of safe, respectful, and loving places for their families to grow up.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then. 

Random thoughts

"Success is not final, Failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." (Winston Churchill)

Cindy and I are both being challenged by our current career choices. Each day or week brings new opportunity for growing and learning. We are excited at the prospect of those opportunities and head to work each day with a smile (okay - I do, she may not always). We may not be smiling at the end of the day - that doesn't mean we are unhappy, it means we have expended all the energy we could to rise to those opportunities as they have come our way. Something we both learned from parents who always worked hard to provide for their respective families.

I worked for a man a few decades ago who understood that making mistakes is a part of the growth and learning process we all need to experience.

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." (Henry Ford)

No, it wasn't Henry Ford it was a contractor I worked for as a teenager. He assured me after a minor accident occurred involving a cement mixer that he had learned from his own mistakes to account for minor incidents in every bid he ever sent to a customer. He smiled at me and a co-worker who had contributed to the problem and said simply, "We'll have it fixed by tomorrow and I won't worry about it as long as you both learned a lesson today." It was fixed and we never had an issue with that piece of equipment again while in his employ.

My thought process over the past few months has tended toward how to begin something new while not disrupting the pattern of life we have established. I've concluded recently that it may be beneficial to have some disruption in those patterns, after all it is those patterns that have brought us to the point at which we reside currently.

"Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I've met people who don't want to try for fear of failing." (J.K. Rowling)

Thoughts like this from J.K. Rowling make me ponder on the things that have been set aside, in part, because of fear. I also wonder at times about how to begin? New beginnings can be hard if too much time is spent thinking about rather than doing. In doing we may find (usually do) traction that will take us in the right direction; even if that direction is different from our original idea.

For now new beginnings are at the top of my mind. If successful, terrific. If not, perhaps a lesson that will change my direction for the better.

This Memorial Day weekend we will be spending time with family in Grand Junction, Colorado. We have several grave sites of men who served in the military that we will visit and decorate. They did not die while in the service so really don't fit the real definition of this holiday - but we will visit and we will decorate anyway. It helps me remember the roots of our family and makes me think about the good memories associated with such honorable men as my father and hers.

We may also take in a baseball game at the Junior College World Series which begins this weekend and continues through the coming week. These games are just very enjoyable and often provide opportunity to see future Major League players like; Lorenzo Cain, Albert Pujols, Brock Holt, Bryce Harper and many others. Always fun games to watch with a great atmosphere in which to do so.

Enough for today.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then.