A little over a year ago, my Grandma Thompson passed away. Here she is with my dad, her oldest child, and my Grandpa when my dad graduated with his Master's degree. You can read my post about her passing here. Today, Dailie, who is named after her mother, Dailie Opal Cory, took Grandma's name to the Nauvoo Temple to be baptized for her there. I have known for awhile that this would happen on this day, and at first I was determined that I would go to Nauvoo as well, to be in the temple to witness the event. As the day grew closer, the challenge seemed difficult. Rick, Dallin and Audri were all going, since this was a Youth baptism trip for our ward. That left Daniel and Eliza at home. At first I thought I'd get someone to watch them, but they each had their final soccer game today. In the end I decided to stay home with them and take them to their soccer games. I wasn't sure if it was the right decision. I felt like it was an important event, and I wanted to be there to be a part of it, but I stuck with the decision.
Today has turned out to be a beautiful day. In between soccer games, I got outside to get some much needed work done around the yard. I had purchased many plants earlier in the week, and they needed planting. The yard needed mowed too. Around the time that the baptismal session would have started in Nauvoo, I found myself weeding our raspberry plants. These are raspberry plants we brought back from my Grandma and Grandpa's house 2 years ago. We're hoping they'll grow into a lovely patch, and for me, serve as a yearly reminder of my grandparents. As I weeded them, I thought about Grandma. She was made from hardworking Midwest farm stock. She was raised during the Depression, and she and my Grandpa are some of the hardest workers I think I'll ever know. She was very practical. There was very little frill and fluff to my grandma. If there was work to be done, then that was what you should be doing, no matter what. As I thought about that, I decided that Grandma would much rather I was home, working in the yard, weeding the raspberry patch then being at the temple, and I finally felt peace about my decision to stay home. Perhaps I was rationalizing, and I worried about that, but as I continued to think about it throughout the day, I felt more and more certain that this was where Grandma would have wanted me to be. Dailie was in Nauvoo, getting done what needed to be done, and I was in Peoria getting done what needed to be done. No need for me to be there when there was work to be done here. It's not necessarily how I would feel about the situation, but I'm pretty sure it's how Grandma would have.
She would be pleased with my work today. I planted 4 planters with Impatiens, 2 pots with geraniums, 4 tomato plants around the lamppost in the front yard, 2 pepper plants in pots in the backyard, mowed the front and backyard, and later after the rest of the family got home, we got the garden planted- 2 more tomato plants, 2 more pepper plants, onions, pumpkins, melons, lettuce, spinach, carrots, zucchini, squash, cucumber, peas, and green beans. Plus, I got Daniel and Eliza to their soccer games. Definitely a day to make Grandma proud.
