The word "closure" seems popular enough to not need defining. So in order for our blogspot to have "closure," I am told, I must add one final entry.
We arrived home--noonish--on May 6. And following as we drove up the driveway, it seems, was a member of the bishopric with two Church callings for us. So as of the next day (Sunday) I was the new cubmaster, and Ranelle was the new ward music chair person. Obviously, with those callings our mission ended and we were off and running on new and exciting "careers." Thus knowing that "work being the order of the universe," it is, if you are not working as a missionary, you are working somewhere else.
That has never hit me harder than in the days since we came home--work. Example: the Monday after arrival, Blaine and Geneil Harris presented us with the nicest, most-beautiful front door you can imagine. The door is made of solid mahogany, and is inlaid with seven decorative panels and a gorgeous cut glass window in the center. The door resulted when Blaine legitimately recovered it from the trash heap of a next-door home that had burned. And since the door was smoke stained, the contractor was replacing it. Blaine and Geneil saved the door for us, even cleaning off the smoke stains. So after our brief family visit to California, and a visit to daughter Erin (et al), and visits with April and her family, I went to work replacing the adequate front door that we had always used--lots of work. Two weeks of it for me.
And while I slaved, Ranelle cleaned--a monumental task. She also plowed, then planted the garden. Lots and lots of work. (Note: ever since, she has been organizing closets and cleaning grime off windows, venitian blinds, etc.) Once my door replacing was done (Note: it really looks nice!), she and I re-painted the living room and the hallway--another two-weeks' job.
Finally, it seems, things are leveling out and I can now go to work on family history. This has been a long time coming.
As for the mission, we carry in our minds and hearts and journals a massive bank of soft and happy memories. Each day we reminisce on a person(s), or an incident(s), or a love affair(s) (and resulting marriage) that has enriched our life(s) in ways you cannot imagine. While we long to return, and reunion, and re-live, we buck up to the reality that life must go on. But we trust that with love being the eternal entity it is, the friends we made while on our mission will be our friends in the eternities to come.
And it all began with the phrase, "yes, we will serve."
