Comments?

Greetings from Salt Lake City where I'm attending a two day conference for my job. This morning is a quick and short post with just one request --- if you read my blog and have questions or comments, please go to the comment section, you can sign in as 'anonymous', and leave your questions/comments for me directly. I recently learned that someone out there has been contacting other people I know asking questions about what I write about and who I never seem to mention. I'd greatly appreciate it if such questions came to me directly. Also, I intentionally change names and/or simply don't address certain topics for a whole host of really good privacy reasons. Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Salt Lake Sher

Vacation in a Theocracy?

My hunch is that the majority of local media across the U.S., over the past few days, have covered the horrible events in Japan. At times like this our collective eye and heart go to the place of greatest need. American society has always been this way. We want to help everyone everywhere all the time and at the same time. This isn't always easy, but our media, left right or center, keep us informed and give us opportunities to express our concerns. As a child I was raised on the evening news as we had dinner during the Vietnam war with Huntley & Brinkley's grim casualty board almost every night. News and politics are part of my DNA and I want to be kept up to the minute on all things big and important.

Hence, the events in Japan qualify as "big and important" so last night I expected the latest info on the local TV news from the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City. Quickly, my disappointment changed to absolute disgust when the lead story wasn't about the fires and melting fuel rods in the nuclear reactors or the number of people still missing or the risk of radiation poisoning to the local people. No, the lead story on this major network affiliate was, "All LDS missionaries in Japan are safe." The story included footage of one of the leaders from the quorum of the twelve expressing his relief that all 600 Mormon missionaries were located by Saturday morning last weekend and none of them were even hurt. He then went on to discuss how they really don't know yet what kind of relief support the LDS church can provide at this time. The next story on the newscast was about the two immigration bills the Governor signed and how much support the LDS church had for said bills.

I'm glad the young men and women missionaries are alright. I want everyone to be alright. I don't think, though, that the lead story on the news in Louisville, Kentucky last night was about the Presbyterian missionaries in Japan. The Presbyterian Church (USA) headquarters are in Kentucky, but the difference is that Kentucky isn't a theocracy. The LDS world headquarters are in Salt Lake City and Utah is a theocracy. Absolutely.

If you're looking for a theocracy to visit on vacation this year, no need to go the the Middle East. Just come to Utah -- we're so much closer.

Dental Plan

The goat on the porch, the five plates of very old fried chicken on the counter, the overflowing litter boxes, the grandpa answering the front door in his boxers at 2:30 in the afternoon, the mom who couldn't stay awake during our meeting because of her prescription drug addiction, the suspected drug deals behind the closed bedroom door, the cockroaches crawling across her foot, and the dirty/neglected adopted children are just some of the situations I've dealt with over the years. I've seen lots of good stuff and lots of bad stuff providing educational and social services in private homes in Washington and now in Utah. Today, though, I heard of something new. Something new after 20 years in this kind of work is a rare thing.

Almost 80% of the children and families I work are on Medicaid. Our county has the highest drug use in the whole state of Utah. We have syndromes and genetic disorders some doctors have never heard of and don't know how to treat. It would take two hands for me to count all the sad little families I see who aren't working with full decks. It's not their fault -- the genetics are fairly messed up around here.

This morning a member of our team went to a home, actually a crappy apartment in town that no one should be allowed to rent out and much less allowed to live in, and waited a few minutes for the young 20-something single mom to come back. She had been at the dentist, the note on the door said, and would be right back. Huffing and puffing she came to the door having walked across town from the dentist. Her minimum wage job at Wendy's doesn't allow for a car. The mom said it was fine for our team member to come in to work with her and her autistic two year old son, but one look at her changed the plan. She was the one who had the dentist appointment, as evidenced by her huge left cheek. Explaining through her swollen and throbbing mouth she said a tooth had been removed. She went onto explain how her dental plan works: when she gets a cavity she lets it go -- when it turns into a situation where a root canal would be helpful she lets it go -- when the tooth is so painful and rotting at the core then she goes to the dentist for it to be pulled. She can't afford to do preventive dental care and Wendy's doesn't provide insurance. So, she just waits until the tooth has to come out as that's all she can pay for.

This young mom is not even 25 yet. I've seen, smelled, held and heard a tremendous amount of poverty in my work experience, but I've never known of someone making the economic choice to let their teeth rot. This woman lives in Utah, lives in the United States, and lives just a few blocks from the construction site of the new multi-million dollar LDS temple.

As the argument goes - she probably made some bad choices, didn't do well in school, and comes from a huge family with little opportunity. I'm sure she could have done better, but maybe not here and maybe not now.

I just thought more people should know about her tonight.

When Life Tells Us What Time It Is

As I walked out of our room the other morning I took note of a strange object on the floor. "Hum, do the dogs have a new toy?" I picked it up, then put on my glasses (it's best advised to put on the glasses first) to find my watch, without it's band, in my hand. The watch face was just fine, no scratches or bite marks, and the clasp was a few feet away. But, where was the band itself? "In my tummy, Mom," woofed Tahoe, our way-to-big-overweight-2 year old Black Lab. Ah, I see, it really was leather from China after all! OK, well that just meant I cut back on his morning chow seeing as how he already ingested so many calories. I thanked him profusely for not wrecking the watch itself. For the next several days I kept the watch, all by its lonesome, in my pocket until today when I finally got to a store to replace the band. Instead of putting a new band on the old watch I picked up a new cheap watch for $12.00. Who knows how long it'll last, but at least my left wrist is no longer naked. My new watch says it's 4pm, my computer says it's 5pm (ok, this creeps me out -- who already changed my laptop to Daylight Savings Time?), and my soul says it's time to take note of significant events the past few days.

In Utah state politics we became not only the first state to have an official "State Gun", but now we're the first state with a law excluding text messages, emails, tweets, and any e-communication between lawmakers from the Federal Freedom of Information Act. Yes, nothing like Wisconsin will ever happen here because now we'll never know what our newly un-ethical(yes, they disbanded the new Ethics law, too) lawmakers are saying to each other in communications that most people consider completely normal and acceptable now. Of course, that'll make it easier to enforce the our new Arizona-style immigration law, too, because they can say whatever they want about anyone, target anyone, etc., without the public ever knowing.

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan prompted this question from a good, older friend of mine in our grief support group this morning; "Sher, why do you think God let this happen?" We talked about how a loving God certainly doesn't inflict pain and misery, but that is often the condition of our world. There's no explaining why one part of the world suffers so terribly and another part doesn't. Such suffering, though, gives those of us who claim the label of 'human' ample opportunities to give ourselves, our money, or prayers on the behalf of those suffering so terribly. It's time for us to step up to the plate again.

When I called my Mom's new doctor this week to discuss an issue with him I was very unprepared to hear, "Her release doesn't include you. We can't talk to you." So, the lifelong era of trying to support, trying to help, trying to ease her way came to an abrupt end. Those are difficult words to hear without any warning whatsoever. I know all about HIPPA, right to privacy, etc., but I didn't expect my own family to make this choice. The time came, though, for unknown reasons, for her to make this choice for herself.

All of these unexpected, inexplicable events and times prompt me to remember the last thing my Dad ever said to me in a private conversation. Looking off into the morning light in the vineyard he said, "You just have to keep going. You just have to keep going." Indeed. Indeed.

"Really? You need another mountain rescue? Really??"

The title of this piece is my guess at God's reaction to our latest predicament around 5pm tonight in the snowy mountains above our house overlooking a reservoir named Mantua (pronounced man-away) Today's bright sun and warmer temperature beckoned Rod to his favorite place way up the mountain. The woman at the bank told him, "Be careful - I hear people are getting stuck up there with the melting snow." To which he confidently replied, "Well, I have a Jeep," which was meant to convey that absolutely nothing could ever get in his way and he'd be just fine, thank you very much! But, I'm getting ahead of the story because I can't explain this event without first explaining the other two that occurred in the very same area, with the very same Jeep within the past six months.

First, there was the late summer evening when Rod was up there target shooting and three gang-like dudes approached him, "Hey old man, nice Jeep, got the keys?" Well, they seemed to completely miss the fact that he was target shooting which includes a firearm and upon his action of merely holding it up in the air they were heard screeching away in their old beat up Vega. Whew - that was a close one.

Second, there was the early fall evening up in the same area with the regular characters of Rod and the Jeep plus our two dogs, Shasta and Tahoe. We had brought Shasta into our home from the streets of Tacoma ten years ago and she was quite a runner at that time. Nothing like having your dog lick you through the backyard fence and a mere second later darting across the front yard on her way across Proctor Street to Jefferson Park. Ah, then there was the time she got out of the backyard at 11pm to chase an opossum across the street in the dark. Fun times on the streets of Tacoma. In any case, we thought her running days were over until that fateful night in the mountains. She gave that old telling look to Rod and flew out of the Jeep towards the underbrush. Rod searched and called for her for up to an hour as darkness fell. We went back later that night yelling for her under the full moon and bright sky. We went back the next day, too, and walked the trails calling for her stopping to listen for her bark or whimper. Nothing. Absolute silence. We figured a mountain lion, a bear, or a pack of coyotes had gotten her. The third day we really gave up hope. Then my cell phone range - a call from the local vet, "We have Shasta here." What? Earlier that morning a group of people had driven up Willard Peak Road to see the view because the road had been inaccessible for years due to potholes, ditches, etc. Thanks to the stimulus funding it'd been repaired and when the carload drove up the mountain they saw Shasta sitting by the side of the road. When they started down the mountain two hours later she was still there - waiting for her ride. They scooped her up and took her into the vet. A conservative estimate is that she travelled around 10 miles up hill over those two nights. No one ate her, no one took a chunk out of her, and she survived. Unbelievable miracle. And one of the men in the car happened to be a member of our church, but didn't know she was our dog.

Now back to the event, the third one, of this evening. Rod drove up that road like he always does, leaving the pavement where it ends and entering the dirt/snow road to go further up. Everything was great and he was having a good time until, whoops, what was that? Oh, just a little slippage, he thought. Remember, Jeeps can go anywhere! However, not today and he was good and stuck in the snow. (What did our friend say at the bank?) Anyway, removing snow from the around the tires with his bare hands wasn't going so well when another Jeep came down the road, "Are you stuck?" "Yea - don't get too close to this area." Well, the nice rocket engineer in the other Jeep only went a few more feet and was stuck, too. Great. That's when Rod called me - one of those calls husbands never, ever want to make to their wives - and I started his direction from my meetings in Logan. When I arrived, at the end of the pavement in the mud, he and the engineer were still working on the situation. I sat there waiting and waiting when suddenly a big pick-up was in my rear-view mirror with a puzzled driver. He wanted to turn onto the long muddy road to our right, but I was in his way. I got out to talk to him and amazingly enough I discovered this was someone we know! They were trying to get to his mom's house down the muddy road - the very last house on the way up the mountain. I explained the situation and he said he'd be back with his chain, if needed. In the meantime, the nice engineer drove out and said Rod was on his way. I walked down the sloppy road a piece and got in the Jeep with him as he continued to slowly move backwards, Whoops - what was that? Another slip, another deep slushy snowbank and we were stuck again. Kyle came back, helped Rod try to dig it out, but there was no success. This time was more precarious, too, because of that really big cliff on the left. These mountains are close to 9000', after all ,and cliffs have been thrown in for good measure. Kyle finally hooked his chain around the rear Jeep axle and very slowly pulled Rod and the Jeep to safety.

These three crazy, unpredictable, scary events in the mountains above Mantua in the past six months all had good endings. On the one hand I'm not too sure about Rod and the Jeep pairing up for anymore adventures, but on the other hand I'm so grateful for the graces that saved him and our little family three different times. It's very good to have him home tonight, the wayward Jeep in the garage, and the meandering/senile dog in her bed. Thank you, Lord.