Gratitude and Privilege

Last night at the dentist's office I had to pay $13.00. That was my only charge, the insurance paid the rest. I made some flippant remark when I said I'd pay using debit - "because it was so much" - said with a smirk. I was just being silly. Honestly, as soon as I said it I kind of felt ungrateful. Then when the woman behind me was figuring out the bill, she was asked if she had insurance and she said "I wish". She looked tired.

Oy. If I could have eaten my words. I felt so ungrateful. I'm generally not. Gratitude is really, really important to me, but in that moment I felt so obnoxious, so undeserving.

Tonight my Mom was telling me about a friend of hers with an adult daughter that keeps asking for money. The daughter is going to school and raising a child. My Mom's friend is unable to keep bailing her out, and has told her she's on her own, she has to get a job and figure things out. I don't know either of these people, but I feel kind of terrified for the daughter, and just kind of sad.

Life is so hard sometimes. Money is so hard sometimes. I haven't had to worry about money, not really. My Grandmother left me money to go to school. I graduated and immediately had a job, and have had the same job ever since. I am so very, very grateful for this. I try to be a wise steward, but well, I think I fall very short.

It hurts so much that so many people don't have enough. I don't know what to do with that sometimes. I give to charity, but do I give enough? What more can I do? What more should I do? What is my responsibility and am I fulfilling it?

I'm so grateful that my kids are healthy, that they have enough to eat, that I have access to great medical and dental care, that they have access to a great education. I wish taking care of each other as humans, wasn't so difficult.

Rochester and Palmyra with the Lim-Andersons

The Lim-Andersons were going to go to Washington D.C. for March break, but then some things changed and they weren't going to go. Emily suggested an overnight trip to the Museum of Play in Rochester and we said, heck ya!

FRIDAY: We left at 9:19. I know we left at this time because when Alice asked for the one hundredth time how long we had been driving, and how long until we got there, I looked at my google timeline and knew precisely when we left!

Not long after we crossed over the border the Lim-Anderson's caught up to us and we drove the rest of the way together.

We pulled into the Museum of Play at 12:33 p.m. And after a group picture we rode the carousel! I love that the carousel is $1/child!

Next up Sesame Street and another forced group picture!

Then they played, and played, and played and played. And we four adults kept losing and finding them. Hazel and Fiona were the hardest to keep track of, but Fiona mostly followed the directions that I had given her. She stayed glued to Hazel, and she mostly knew where an adult was.

About 4:30 we decided to go check out the butterflies. Kate and Alice desperately wanted to have butterflies land on them. They both stood very still and waited and waited. Kate had one land on her stomach for a second, and Alice had one on her back for a second, but not long enough for me to get a picture.

Then it was Berenstain Bears land. All the kids in one room, with only one way in and out! We parents just sat. It was nice!

Then we decided to eat dinner. Subway, Pizza Hut, Hot Dogs and Taco Bell was our gourmet fare! And after everyone was done eating, it was time for more playing.We agreed that we would leave the museum by 7:00 so the kids could go swimming in the hotel pool.

When we had gotten to the museum the parking lot was full and we thought, on no! We drove around the corner and realized that half of the parking lot was now under construction and it all made sense. (Ken and John Inca did manage to find on-site parking!) I snapped a pic of the coming transformation when we were leaving. It's all pretty exciting!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Irondequoit, just to the NE of Rochester. I didn't love the hotel, but I LOVED that it was beside a Target. And the kids LOVED that the pool was shallow all the way around - 3 foot 6 inches, everywhere, except the centre of the pool which was 4 feet. Fiona and Hazel could both touch and they loved it. And best of all the water was warm. The hotel also had a great breakfast, so all in all, it was great.

SATURDAY: After a very leisurely breakfast, (and second breakfast for some) we left the hotel at 10:00 and drove the short distance to Palmyra. I had it in my head that it was an extra hour, so when it was only 35 minutes, I was super excited. We took the back roads and it was pretty, we even saw a train! We drove first to the Joseph Smith Farm. There were a few grumbles because of the cold, but the kids endured pretty well, and I think they might have felt the spirit too! 

After visiting the farm site we drove into Palmyra, and had lunch at Marks' Pizzeria. Then we went to the Grandin Printing Press building. The sister missionaries were great. We told them we didn't want a full tour, more of a show and tell. The Grandin building is fun, because there are so many things for the kids to touch and play with, and old fashioned printing presses are just cool. The time and effort it took to produce things, it's staggering. What do we do with our time now? I don't even know!

We made a quick trip into the bookstore, Emily picked up scriptures for Lauren at the distribution centre, and then it was done! We each got into our vans, and headed for home.

We drove to St. Catherine's, gassed up the van, had another gourmet meal, this time at McDonald's, ran into an old friend from Orangeville - Emily Stockwell-McMahon, it was fun to see her and meet her hubby! Then it was home. We pulled into the driveway just before 8. It was great. Great friends and great fun. We were so blessed with a healthy trip, and safe travels. I'm so thankful for time with friends and family!