Lessons from the Past

I loved Elder Ballard's talk in last conference about learning lessons from those who came before. He gave the example of him becoming an Edsel dealer against the advice of his father. Had he heeded his father's advice he would have saved himself a lot of money. He pointed out that those who have experienced more than us can give us great insights if we will heed them.

Two things have been in my mind regarding this talk that I want to record. First is from a time Tom was commiserating to his dad about our sleepless nights (Tess, not Greta). His reply? "Oh, I miss those days!" My first thought was "WHAT?? You've got to be kidding me!" But I was reminded how short this chapter in our lives is and that I should be enjoying it--even if it comes with challenges. If I'm not enjoying it, I'm creating reason for future regrets. I've been trying to consciously think of that whenever I'm up at night with her. . . and in the day when she is exerting way more energy than I've got; which happens to be always.
(Just a note: in the picture, Jerry is holding a wooden leg his great grandfather walked across the plains on--at least it is thought that this is the leg.)

Second is from the last time we saw my Grandma Bingham. She told us a story that I hadn't ever heard her tell. My Uncle Paul used to run from their house in Weston to school in Dayton every day. 8 miles. My mom would take his clothes to him on the bus and then he would change at school. (now there is something that would never happen at my house!) And because of all that running, he was good enough to go to state track to run the mile. However, the state meet was the same weekend as stake conference. . . one that Elder Packer was going to be presiding at and my grandma was in the stake RS presidency. Should she go to the track meet or to conference? She had meetings and responsibilities to attend to at the conference. But her son was running in state track. What to do? Well, she stayed for the conference. And all these years later, she wishes she would have supported her son. (He did take state in the mile.) Now I'm not saying that is what she should or should not have done. In the same situation I might have chosen the same because church responsibilities are sometimes hard to delegate. However, her hindsight gives me insight of how important family really is. At the opportunity to sit at the feet of an apostle or attend to her family, she would have attended to her family. I just want to remember that.