Small Town - Big Stuff

Yesterday I drove past a car parked in town that I hope, I really hope, isn't my car of the future. Every seat was covered with towels to protect or hide whatever was beneath. I notice how older people cover chair and couch arms to protect the upholstery and I just hope I never have the urge to do that.

Yesterday a very nice electrician spent half the day replacing about 23 outlets in our 50 year old house. After he left we plugged in the vacuum to clean up the mess and found that 8 outlets in the family room didn't work. I called the company at 9:30 PM and the owner actually answered. This morning the electrician called at 8AM (it's Saturday) and he was here at 11:00 to fix all of it. He also checked the electrical box, tightened a few things and called it good. There was no charge for today's visit.

Last night we had dinner at a good Mexican restaurant whose owners are originally from Tacoma. The food was excellent and except for the fact that we can't get a glass of wine or a beer in this town, it was all quite good. The place was packed and all the little families looked quite happy.

This morning the president of the Mormon church announced the building of five new temples across the globe. They make these announcements every six months at their general conference meetings in Salt Lake. I've been home today with a sore throat and cold, but the following words pulled me right off the couch, "Five new temples will be started. One of the two to be built in the U.S. will be in Brigham City, Utah." The benefit to our economy will be huge and the faithful of the LDS church are beyond thrilled (based on online comments to the local papers). It'll be their 14th temple in Utah and the 3rd one in the northern part of the state. They didn't say where it will be built in town. The impact of this will effect us on many different levels. My guess is that no one outside of Utah has even heard about this. But, for those of who live here the implications of this one event in the life of this town and the lives of the different Christian congregations will soon begin to unfold. Huge. Challenging. Extraordinary.

So, all in all life in our little town this weekend has included a good meal, a good electrician, and an announcement from the dominant religion/culture that will reshape our external world in very big ways. Very big ways.