“So Long, Farewell…”

Day 135

Was it really 15 years ago yesterday that my brother Josh had his mission farewell?! Josh, if you are reading this, I hope you don’t think your are old…well, you are kinda old, but I am older than you so…never mind!

The Program

Anyway, I read my journal entry from this day and I was reminded that me and my family all spoke in church. I had worked on my talk throughout the previous night (nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?) and I was very nervous. Here are some excerpts from this journal entry [from Volume 15: September 22nd 1995 - March 3rd 1996]:

Sunday October 15th 1995,

10:48 pm - …the meeting began. My nervousness resumed, and as I was sitting next to Mom she looked over at me and showed me that her hands were shaking. We were all nervous, but we were in it together…

The first page of my talk - nice penmanship, huh?

…Jordan was the first to speak and he spoke on sacrifice and did a fine job. Jaimee was up next, with her talk about being converted. My talk, which was on faith, went well, although I don’t remember a lot of what I said towards the end. Mom spoke next, with an amazing control of her emotions, on the topic of free agency…

…Dad spoke next, on adversity, and did a fine job. Josh’s talk threw me for a loop because it was structured so well; it was on achieving our individual potential. When Josh sat down I was amazed that the program had moved so smoothly, especially when I considered that we had not practiced this. After the meeting there was an onslaught of people congratulating, commenting and mostly talking to Josh. A brief moment of popularity, for all of us…

I also wrote about the many relatives that were there for church and for a big lunch that we had in a park afterwards. I wrote about how fast the events of the day unfolded, how quickly things happened, and how so many people were here one minute and then gone the next minute, with everything seeming like a blur. And that blur continued because suddenly 15 years have passed and so much has happened to all of us, especially Josh. It was so long ago that we said farewell, and I’m so grateful that it wasn’t so long that we said hello again!