Conference Center

These are some of the women I served with at the Conference Center on my Monday shift. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I downloaded this photo. Just LOOK at those faces! The first time I met the elderly woman, Krista, (second from the right), I let her physical frailties color my impression. Oh my goodness was I wrong. She has the energy of someone half her age and is the BEST story teller. She's a kind, gifted woman full of light, with a sparkle in her eyes and a keen wit. Her frame is hunched over and she walks r-e-e-e-e-a-l-l-y slowly, but her husband Joe sits tall in the saddle - like Dennis will when we're old and I'm hunched over like Krista. The blonde lady seated on the left is a gospel doctrine teacher just like me. One day we were sharing some thoughts about an upcoming lesson, and the topic of Joseph Smith translating using a seerstone in a hat came up. She said "My son just wrote a book about that."  I gasped and responded "MY son just illustrated a book about that!" Turns out it was the same book!! We were giddy to find out that our sons not only teach together at BYU but amazingly had recently worked together on a book. Both of us immediately texted our respective boys, and they both responded with "He's a genius" (I guess it's a running joke between the two of them. Although Tony later said to me, "No, mom, Michael Mackay really IS a genius"). The lady standing on the far left never had children. She was a down to earth person of few words, five foot two (like I swear 90% of the women were, accompanied by 90% of the men who were all 5 foot 7, I felt like a giant). She had the most brilliant blue eyes, like little blue marbles, that were actually quite startling if you looked directly into them. I always wondered what she looked like as a little girl. The lady seated second from the left, Jane, is as full of goodness as she looks. She was the designated "Resource Specialist" before she got a new responsibility and I replaced her and was such a good "resource" for me. She was one of those people who immediately decides to call me "Barb." The lady third from the left is one of those people whose smile and face immediately drew me in. She seemed familiar the first time I met her. I feel like we're related somewhere down the line, because something about her instantly reminded me of my Aunt Barbara, so all pretenses were down from the get-go. She has nine children and is as sturdy and buoyant and curious and no-nonsense as a farm girl in a novel (at least in a novel I would write? Are farm girls curious and/or buoyant?). Interestingly, she had eight boys and one girl- and so did a lady on my Friday shift have nine children, eight boys and one girl! I always wanted to get them together. The lady on the far right, Cindy, was someone I didn't get to know very well at first and then got really close to toward the end of my time at the conference center. She brought her husband to the Christmas party and he was so handsome and debonair! He reminded me of Celine Deon's husband, although I know next to nothing about Celine Deon's husband. She was so open-hearted and vulnerable and loved to talk when we had slow days. Both of her sons had hemophilia and unbelievably one of them died of AIDS after receiving blood transfusions from someone with AIDS during the unknown and uncertain days when the AIDS epidemic began.

This is a "snapshot" of a few of the people I got to serve with over the almost three years I was at the Conference Center. I could include 10 more snapshots of all of the others. I wanted to get this down on my blog because I want to remember it. After I was released in November, it was so transforming to have two whole extra days to get everything done that I wanted to do during the holidays. And I was kind of surprised that I didn't miss it more, but I honestly didn't miss it! Although, now that it's the middle of bleak mid-winter, I have little pangs of wondering if I might want to do it again. Crazy! Or, I might want to just be a piano player one day a week at the conference center, that would be fun, and not exhausting at all, and serving at the conference center is - ex-haus-ting! But also great missionary experiences almost every day which are a blessing beyond measure.  I might also look into playing the organ at the temple one day a week. Who knows! But Amy just moved to Logan YESTERDAY!!!! and we are going to ROME in JUNE! So, I will probably continue enjoying this stretch of time with no responsibilities -  for now :-)