Sweetheart Placemat

“Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before. This should be our purpose—to persevere and endure, yes, but also to become more spiritually refined as we make our way through sunshine and sorrow.” – President Thomas S. Monson

Four Queens Block

Crispus Attucks was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, in (or near) 1723. He was the first casualty of the Boston Massacre of March 5th, 1770, and is widely considered to be the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War. Attucks was a sailor who'd spent much of his life at sea aboard whaling vessels. The day he died he’d recently returned from a trip to the Bahamas, and was scheduled to set sail shortly for the Carolinas. Attucks was in a crowd of Bostonians harassing a single British sentry. Eight additional soldiers came to the sentry’s aid, but the crowd only got nastier. Soldiers fired into the crowd, killing Attucks and two other men instantly. Two more of the wounded died later. If you paid attention in 5th grade history, you’ve heard all this. But you might not have heard that Crispus Attucks’ mother was a Wampanoag Indian and his father was an African-born slave.     

Faded Memory

Julia Boggs Dent was born in 1826, the daughter of a St. Louis plantation owner. All her life she suffered from strabismus (crossed eyes). A prominent surgeon offered to remedy the situation, but she declined. Julia fell in love with a young man her brother brought home from West Point, and they were engaged. Neither of their parents approved the match: his because her father owned slaves, and hers because the groom’s prospects as a career soldier seemed dim. For 25 years the Dents were right about their son-in-law. But Ulysses gained notoriety as a victorious civil war general, and in 1869 he became the eighteenth president. Julia thought she was too plain to be first lady, and considered having the surgery she’d rejected as a girl. President Grant wouldn’t hear of it. “Did I not fall in love with you with these same eyes?” he asked. “I like them just as they are!”

Nine Days' Wonder

Nearly 10,000 feature films were released last year. We saw about three dozen of these; the ones we felt would be uplifting and entertaining. Of the movies we deemed worth the time and money, just six received Oscar nominations: Joy, Shaun the Sheep, The Martian, Cinderella, Inside Out and The Force Awakens. Only one of the movies we saw actually won an Oscar. In the real world, the Academy Awards are completely irrelevant. The more I learn about the selection process, the less this fact surprises me. The Oscar winners are chosen by 6,000 voters living in San Francisco, New York and London. These people – we know absolutely nothing else about them – have just over three weeks to see the 50+ nominated films before making their decisions. This means most of the voters never saw most of the movies they voted on. The ones they did catch they probably didn’t see on the big screen.

Love and Kisses

I don’t know how true the story is. I wasn’t there when it happened, and neither were you. But it’s a persistent tale. Even the most improbable legend has a grain of truth at its root. Two hours from Frankfurt there’s a town called Weinsberg. Above the town is a conical hill covered with grape vines and topped by castle ruins. In 1140 the castle was besieged by Konrad III. December 21, when the inhabitants surrendered, the king permitted the women to leave with whatever they could carry. According to the legend, each woman left the castle carrying her husband on her back. The king was bound by his word, so the men (the married ones, at least) were saved. I don’t think I’d get far with John slung across my shoulders. Maybe after a long siege, neither of us would weigh what we do now. Either way, we’re both pretty lucky to have been born eight centuries later.

Boy's Playmate

The suitcases are unpacked and the laundry’s done. There’s nothing left of our holiday but photos and a few souvenirs. After a trip is over, I like to list the things I brought along that were helpful, as well as the things I wish I’d remembered. I knew we’d have a washer and dryer in our suite, so I stuffed small packets of laundry soap in my suitcase. Somehow dryer sheets completely slipped my mind. I broke several nails this trip, so my emery board came in handy. I remembered hair spray, baby powder and scissors – all things I’ve forgotten on previous vacations. Still, we ended up running to the pharmacy more than once last week. No matter how you plan, there’s always something you couldn’t have anticipated. This time it was a bout of food poisoning. There’s no way to pack for every possibility. If your resort is near a well-stocked store, you don’t have to.