7 Again...

Okay--my daughter did 7 things that make her laugh, so here's my version.

7 People That Have Always Made Me Laugh (in order of hilarity):

1. Levi (often when I was angry with him about something. . . "I know I'm laughing, but I'm still mad at you!")
2. Joanie (she's gone now, but man was she fun!)
3. Alexa (in her letters home)
4. My Dad--especially when I would hear him laughing as he watched "The Red Skelton Show" when I was a kid.
5. Christina
6. Casey
7. CNMI Politicians

Life in 7's

I was tagged by mainegirll--cool.

My life in 7's:

7 things to do before I die

1. See all of my children happy and faithful.
2. Have another 25. . . 30? 50? (at the very least) happy, healthy years with Casey.
3. Serve a mission for the Church.
4. Spend a few days with Cassie and Dave.
5. Go to the National Archives and weep unashamedly (over the Founding Documents).
6. Drive the perimeter, Rt. 1, of the U.S.
7. Own a brand-new Lexus. Oh yeah.

7 things that attract me to my honey

1. His sense of humor.
2. His uncanny ability to converse intelligently on just about anything.
3. His interest in people.
4. How much he likes the "little kids."
5. He's fun.
6. He is the most interesting man I have ever known.
7. The patience he has with me.

7 things I say most often

1. "Just a minute."
2. "We'll see."
3. "Now that's an interesting thing."
4. "Man-oh-man"
5. "mmm-hmm"
6. "What's up?"
7. "I may have told you this before, but..."

Saints and Soldiers

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago and was very moved. It's evidently based on the real life experience of a small group of U.S. soldiers in Belgium during WWII who come upon an ally with critical intelligence that they need to get to command asap--the problem is, they're stranded behind enemy lines. One of the scenes in the movie sticks in my mind as an excellent example of the individual ways in which we interpret our life's experiences. Similar, in fact nearly identical, events can be realized in such completely different ways from one person to the next. This movie also made me think a lot about how dependent we are on one another and how much we influence and are influenced by each other--we truly are brothers and sisters.

"Saints and Soldiers" is very well done; I highly recommend it. (I would not recommend it for the under PG13 crowd unless a parent has seen it first to make that determination.) You can find more information on the movie at www.saintsandsoldiers.com.

I Hope They Call Me on A Mission!

"They" did! On Friday, September 30, 2005, Alexa received her mission call to the Idaho Pocatello Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We were sooo excited. Grammie H. called here to get her phone number at work--she had promised that she would call her as soon as it arrived. So later I phoned back to see if Grammie had gotten in touch with her and she said she had and that she was coming up right after work with Mal and her roommate.

This all happened early Saturday morning for us, so I figured out that we should be hearing from Alexa sometime between 11 and noon. We told all the kids and decided that when she called whoever answered would holler to the rest and we would all get on the phones and then Jacob would turn on the theme to "Star Wars"...then Dad's voice would say, "Alexa--where is your mission?" Unfortunately, by the time everyone got on the phones we were all so excited and all talking at the same time (you'd think I'd be used to that after all these years!), that I couldn't hear what Alexa was saying--or even if she was saying anything. Anyway, everyone had to hang up the extensions and we finally got the word and the chaos did finally subside! She had us all guess before she would tell us--Jake got the closest with Utah. She has to be in Utah a lot earlier than we thought, and she said, "Mom! You've got to get here!" because I was leaving the day after Thanksgiving to go back and go with her to the temple, but that will be cutting it too close, so now I'm leaving a week earlier.

It was so fun to go to Church on Sunday and tell everyone. Our branch president announced it and there was an audible "OH!" from the congregation. It was great. Then, of course, those who were connected to that area started talking with us after the meetings--one of our current missionaries is from there, one of our friends here was born there and lived there for quite a few years, other friends have a friend from Mongolia that is serving there now, and still another has a nephew who enters the MTC in 2 weeks who is going there...the Church really does make it such a small world!

I'm so happy for and proud of Alexa. I'm excited for her to go to the area of the country where she was born--we left when she was two and have never been back since then. She actually has been to Idaho before when we went camping at Redfish Lake up in the Sawtooth Mountains, but of course she doesn't remember it. What a beautiful state it is! I think she'll be impressed by the incredible Rocky Mountains; I know she'll fall in love with the people she serves.

Hurricane Katrina

I received this email one week ago from my cousin's wife. My cousin is an officer in the Marine Corp. We get so inundated with information from the news media, that I think it's very important to hear accounts from "real" people who tell their story from a position of care and concern instead of network interests. Here's the email:

For those who don't know who I'm sending this email out--[my husband] left yesterday with a company of his men (about 120) to Mississippi. [He] arrived in Mississippi last night, and will be working with the Ohio National Guard. He says there seems like there's a thousand national guardsmen, policmen, firemen. He slept in a non-airconditioned warehouse of a thousand cots with a thousand other men. The humidity wasn't too bad, but add the body heat, and it's certainly not pleasant.

The search and rescue of bodies is just about completed in Mississippi, so [his] company of men will be tasked with something else (thank goodness), but not sure yet. He said it's a bit frustrating, because he could do so much more work with his entire battalion. As of now, they'll just join work parties.

He was able to drive to the devastation this morning, and he said it's unbelievable. There's total devastation. He watched a husband/wife stand in front of what was probably their home, (only the foundation was there) both sobbing. He saw a new car dealership with cars stacked 3 deep on each other, and some cars (some upside down) in the neighboring homes/stores, that are pretty unrecognizable. He also said that there's quite a bit of traffic on I-10 and people are returning, or just sight seeing.

Just like the War, the media isn't covering the "good" things being done, but there is TONS of help, there, and American's generosity continues to pour into the area. Most of the volunteers have T-shirts that tell where they are from. He saw one from Redding, CA. He said it was funny to hear that the civilians affected by the hurricane were fed MRE's (meals ready-to-eat that the military eat when in the field, or fighting/training in outer areas where there are no chow halls or mess tents) and they didn't like them at all. The military looks at them as food to keep them alive, whereas the civilians had another perspective of them.....

A side note to the members of our church. Last night our Relief Society enrichment had an auction of white elephant stuff/clothes that members brought from home to auction for $1 or $2. The sisters received permission to do this, and the proceeds are being put to the "Humantarian" Tithing envelope. If you receive the Church News (dated 9/3, page 13), the Church suggested this as one form of donation to help victims of the hurricane. We had four tables full of stuff, and it was a huge success! The sisters also had a blast. One Sister brought in a large picture of Christ, painted by Greg Olsen and it was our top seller with a bid of $230. I thought some of you might pass this idea on to your wards, as well.

[He] said he was driving down a street where one building stood totally unscathed--as he got closer, he recognized it--it was one of our chapels, and there was a sign on the front stating it was an evacuation shelter for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He said not even a shingle was gone from it. Everything around it was obliverated. Amazing.....Love, [Me]

First Date

Sam had a date last night! It doesn't seem possible that he's the age now that Alexa was when we moved here. Several of the kids in the branch just turned 16 and one of the girls was asked out by a young man who was baptized a month or two ago, so she decided to plan a group date. The plan was to go bowling and then to go to a house and watch a movie. Sam asked Jenny and it was set for Saturday night.

Just before Sam left that night, I reminded him that since he had asked Jenny to go with him that he should pay for her part of the activities they had planned. He looked as blank as if I had spoken Greek! Finally it clicked and he said, "Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, that's right. Okay." I'm glad I said something! Anyway, Sam's ride didn't show up, so he asked me if I would take him down to the bowling alley. Jenny and several of the girls were already there.

There were a pile of boys here at the house that Jacob had invited over, so things were hopping as usual at home. I told them we closed at 9:30 on Saturday nights and they were pretty well gone by 10, but I wanted to wait up for Sam anyway. He came in just before 11 P.M. He said that he had a great time and he was very happy that he had soundly beaten everyone in bowling. After that they had bought a pizza and a video and watched it at a friend's house.

Here's the kicker--Sam was the only guy that showed up! Not one of the girls had a date show up except Jenny--not even the one who was originally asked out and planned it! So it was just Sam and 4 very pretty young ladies! No wonder he had a good time!

"Let's Do It!" Read The Book of Mormon Weekend

I teach Seminary. Seminary is a religious education class for high school age students run by the Church Educational System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I [mostly] enjoy teaching and right now I have a great group of students. Our class meets from 6 - 6:50 A.M. I've been teaching Seminary off and on (mostly on) now for 6 years...I think.

Anyway, this year our course of study is The Book of Mormon. All summer I'd been thinking that it would be good for the class to read the whole book early in the course and in a short period of time to give us a framework to use as a point of reference in the class. I have 24 students this year. Some of the students are new members who are not familiar with the book and some have been raised in the Church, but still are not very familiar with it.

So, over Labor Day weekend we had our reading. We started at 4 P.M. on Friday afternoon and read until 10:30 P.M. The branch provided dinner for us that night. The next morning we started again at 6 A.M. and read, once again, until 10:30 that night. One student's family had volunteered to bring in food for us for lunch and we started fasting right after we had eaten. On Friday night we had 25 - 30 participate--several Institute students joined us. On Saturday, we had 20 (10 young women, 10 young men--that was a first!). By the time we left on Saturday night we were pretty beat and we still had 2 books to go; I wondered if anyone would show up for the finish on Sunday morning.

We had agreed to meet Sunday at 7:00 A.M. and I was a little late because I had to take all of my family with me. I had a call right before I left that one of the girls I was supposed to pick up had just gotten up and would get there when she could. Hmmmmm.... I was glad (and relieved) to find that there were already a half dozen students there by the time I arrived. We didn't have as many--only 11 showed up that morning--but we did finish before Sacrament Meeting and several of the students who didn't make it to the finish with the group did read the last two books on their own.

We read so fast that I started worrying that the kids wouldn't get anything out of this activity, but it hasn't turned out that way at all. Several of them bore their testimonies of the Book of Mormon that day, and since then I have heard them on a few different occasions refer to things we read (i.e., "I think Lamanites had leather armor." "No, remember? It said they were naked.").

We just had so much support from the branch and the parents, Sister Benson (our Institute teacher) and especially from each other. I'm glad we did it--it was a great weekend.

The Tim-Tam Slam

(Sung to the tune of "Nowhere Man")

He's a real Tim-Tam Man
Buying Tim-Tams where he can
Making all those Tim-Tam slams
For nobody.

Yes, he is. Our friend, Del, just got back from Tonga and brought with him "A taste sensation--an edible experience--it's addictive." Evidently the Australians claim it as their own. Mormons beware. Here are the instructions:

Ingredients:
packages of Tim-Tams, refrigerated is best (the amount is left to your discretion)
hot chocolate
napkins (not recommended)

Make hot chocolate as per directions. Remove one Tim-Tam from package and bite off a small amount in opposite (diagonal) corners. Lean over close to the hot chocolate mug (may use a shallow bowl if desired), put one bitten-off end of Tim-Tam into chocolate, and quickly begin to suck up hot chocolate using Tim-Tam as a straw. This requires medium to strong suction, so get a good breath first. When Tim-Tam collapses and loses suction, shove quickly into mouth.

Servings: Approximately 1 serving per package of Tim-Tams.

sha-BOOM sha-BOOM!

Man! Did we ever have a big thunderstorm last night. Once there were three big percussive blasts in one huge roll of thunder. One "boom" sounded like one of the explosions in "Independence Day"--complete with the laser sound that preceded it. It was amazing! It was also at 2 in the morning....

The storm must've been right over the island because the thunder and lightning was coming all at the same time and I've always been told that you can tell about how far away a thunderstorm is by counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder, but in this case there weren't any seconds in between!

All I could think of was what it must've been like when the Nephites and Lamanites went through "thunderings and lightnings" as it's recorded in The Book of Mormon. I'm sure that it was much, much worse, but what a reminder of the awesome power of nature in response to God.

I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Roads and Bridges

After reading my daughter's beautiful description of the carriage roads and stone bridges of Acadia National Park in her blog (An Acadian Story, August 2005, www.majormal.blogspot.com), I couldn't resist putting up a few pictures to illustrate. Thanks for the interesting info bits, too, Mal. (See more below.)

Carriage Roads and Bridges of Acadia.

Carriage Roads and Bridges of Acadia.

A Think...

One of those inconspicuous statements that you hear now and then that gave me pause in Sacrament Meeting today:

"The fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ."

--President Philip Pulsipher

President, Guam Micronesia Mission

Biscuit(s)

It always drove me crazy that my mother and grandmother said "biscuit" instead of "biscuits".
"What did you have good for supper?" Grammie Boone would ask my mother.
"Well, John caught a mess of trout, so we had those, potatoes, peas from the garden, and I made biscuit." Aaaaarrrgh! It was like fingernails on a chalkboard! (Too bad I can't find someone who'll pay me for being petty...)

At any rate, the recipe we use in our household is from an old National Grange Cookbook. This is often Sunday night fare for us--especially if there is any honey or, better yet, molasses on hand. Ironically to my mother and grandmother who swore by Bakewell Cream, this baking powder recipe is somewhat of an anomaly. We love it.

Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and milk. Knead. Roll until 3/4-inch thick, cut with biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake in 450-degree oven for 10 to 14 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Family and Friends and Family

We had some friends of ours over for a barbecue the other night. We wanted to have them over before Janel's mother goes back to Texas after visiting here for the past two months.

It's always fun having them over, our children are friends, but it was really a special treat to have Grandma here, too. I'm really impressed that she was able and willing to make the long trip to this island because in the last year she has had two heart attacks and has also had to endure cancer treatments, but she did it. Rik and Janel's youngest kids had never met their grandmother before, so of course that was very important to them as well.

Grandma was so comfortable and nice. She was full of stories and words of wisdom and experience and I honestly couldn't remember a time that I enjoyed visiting with an elderly person so much. I figure that it's either that I just plain miss having a grandmother around or I'm getting so much closer to that myself that I'm feeling like a contemporary! I told her that we don't get to have grandma's out here for a visit very often, so it's really great when we do.

Our friends out here become our surrogate families and we often talk about our parents, ask how so and so (a family member we've never met) is doing, etc. to the point that we feel like we know some of each other's biological families. When we get to actually meet one of the bio-family members we already feel a connection.

Anyway, it was great having Grandma for a visit in Saipan.

A Grampie Story

Today is Grampie Alexa's birthday. He's 110...or he would be if he were still here. My boys are sitting behind me exclaiming at the things I'm writing ("Grampie can't be 110!")--as if they didn't even know that I had a Grampie Alexa of my own!

My grandfather was Lithuanian--he came to the U.S. when he was 18 or so. My grandmother was 4 years older than him and she taught him English--in fact, I think that's how they met. He learned to speak the language all right, but even 60 years later a lot of my friends had a hard time understanding him because of his accent.

When I was little I loved to be with Grampie Alexa. I especially liked to go over to eat with him and Grammie. He would go out in the woods after a rain and pick mushrooms in the summer, but they weren't uniform like the ones you buy in the store. They were all different varieties, sizes, colors, and shapes. He said that the way he knew which ones were alright to eat was by seeing where deer and other animals had nibbled at them. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to pick them myself, but I ate them with him then. I really liked sitting on the porch and watching Grampie clean those mushrooms with his knife. He would cut off the ends and slice them, then take them inside and fry them with salt pork in a big cast iron skillet on the flat top of their black wood cookstove. After I would eat them my mother wouldn't let me in the house because of the smell of them on my breath! In truth, when they were fried like that they turned kind of dark and slimy, but Gramp made them and that was enough to convince me I liked them!

There are just way too many stories about Gramp to put them all in one blog--like riding in his 1931 Model-A Ford which he bought used in 1935 and drove until 1975 or so when he gave up driving. I think he sold it at a profit....

Anyway--I'll write more Grampie Alexa stories now and then.

Family Favorites - Cookies

Our family loves cookies. We like to make them almost as much as we like to eat them! In fact, today Kaitlyn was making some cookies and some friends came to take her and Ezra to the beach before she could get them mixed up, so she asked me to finish. They were peanut butter cookies and I thought they looked a little dry, so I threw in some ripe bananas. After we baked a couple pans of those (they were yummy), I remembered that I had some chopped up peanuts in the refridgerator, so I tossed those in too.

The cookies that Kaitlyn was making were from one of our family-favorite recipes--Grammie Haskin's Peanutbutter Cookies--we love them! I never even cared for peanutbutter cookies until I had hers melt in my mouth. But the all-time winner in our household would have to be Grammie Boone's Blethen House Molasses Cookies--they taste like home.

Grammie Haskin's Peanutbutter Cookies

1 cup shortening (1/2 butter tastes good)
1 cup peanutbutter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients well. Shape into balls, press criss-cross with a fork.
Bake at 350 until not quite done (8-10 minutes). After removing from oven, leave on baking sheet for a couple of minutes before putting on cooling rack.

GRAMMIE BOONE'S BLETHEN HOUSE MOLASSES COOKIES
My Grammie Boone always said that she was an "old-fashioned cook". She was the baker of choice for people all over Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, my hometown. She baked for Collette's Restaurant and for the (lone) hotel, the Blethen House. She loved to bake and her family and friends loved to have her do it! We nearly always double this recipe...

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cassia (cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon cloves
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients well. Roll into balls and dip the tops in granulated sugar. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until tops are cracked.

Just a Summer Day

But then as we were told before we came here, every day is summer in Saipan!

Sam and Jacob are at Boy Scout Camp this week. It's been kind of a nomadic adventure starting out on Tuesday with the scouts kayaking out to Managaha then back the next morning. At that point we transported them from Micro Beach to Susupe Lake where they did a little more kayaking and had a presentation from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife on the brown tree snake and Jacob lost his glasses in the muck at the bottom of the lake. . . sigh. ANYWAYS, then they hiked up to Kannat Tabla where they spent that night. On Thursday we transported them to the Grotto where they had more merit badge work as well as playing in the water (anyone interested can probably find a picture of the Grotto on www.delbenson.com), and yes, it can be dangerous and I'm glad they're all away safe and sound. This morning I helped transport them from the Grotto to Laulau Bay where they will camp tonight and finish up tomorrow with a family pot luck complete with skits, etc. Sam only joined them this morning because he had cut his foot at our 4th of July barbecue and Casey felt that today it was healed up enough for him to go.

So, with Kaitlyn at day camp down at Hopwood, I only have Ezra and Eden here at home today. Of course it was too boring having just the two of them, so we went over and picked up Ashley and Solofi Welch (their dad is the Scoutmaster), and they jumped on the trampoline and played with the scooters until they worked themselves into a nice hot lather. Now they're all out swimming in the pool we bought last Christmas. The pool was second-hand, but we found it right here on the island and they have had a blast with it since the weather really heated up in May. Even Casey gets in with them at the end of the day sometimes (it's the kind with the inflatable ring--about 12' diameter), the kids really love that!

Casey has started playing basketball with the Over 45 league. He had his first game last Saturday and has another one today. It's funny to hear him talk about it. He says that he wasn't as bad as he expected to be, but that was probably because the rest of the team is so out of shape. One guy just sets up camp at one end of the court and waits for them to throw him the ball. Casey's legs were killing him for the first couple of days after the game--he said they felt like wet noodles.

I really admire Case for staying so fit over the years--he's really been conscientious about that. The other day I came across some shorts that had been put in a pile of clothes to give away and Casey tried them on and they fit perfectly...they have the same size waist that I bought for him when we were first married! I wish I'd come across the figure I had back then (gosh, I just can't think what I did with that!).

Keeping Things in Perspective: An Excerpt from "Moonlight" Graham remembered - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

I ran across this story by Keith Olbermann on MSNCB.com today. It's a wonderful story for a day like ours when pop-culture pseudo-heroes have taken center stage.

"At the Metrodome in Minnesota Wednesday, an 86-year-old woman and two kids from Chisholm, Minnesota, threw out ceremonial first pitches before the Twins game against the Kansas City Royals. The team was saluting Doc Graham Day. The kids are the recipients of the two Doc Graham memorial scholarships.

"Does that name, Doc Graham, ring a bell? How about Moonlight Graham? Sure, it’s been 16 years since the movie came out, but it runs every month on TV. Think hard now. Surely you remember Moonlight Graham. “Field of Dreams?” There you go.

"It’s perhaps the iconic depiction of baseball on film, a magical combination of history, fantasy and innocence. It’s become that largely because of just one of its many characters, that fanciful creation that author W.P. Kinsella called Moonlight Graham.

"Graham supposedly played in just one Major League Baseball [game], then became the beloved town doctor of the tiny town of Chisholm, Minnesota.

"Well, it would have been a fanciful creation, and Moonlight Graham would have been one of fiction’s great characters, except for one detail: there really was a Moonlight Graham. He really did become the beloved town doctor of Chisholm, Minnesota. And he really did play in just one Major League Baseball game. That one game was exactly 100 years ago on Wednesday.

"In Chisholm, Minnesota, 70 miles from the Canadian border, they never called him Moonlight. Instead, they opted for Doc or Doctor Graham.

"W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe, says he came across his name in a baseball encyclopedia given as a Christmas gift. 'He was listed as Moonlight Graham. And I thought, ‘What a wonderful name. This is better than anything I could invent,' says Kinsella.

"This movie story really is true. In 1904, Archibald “Moonlight” Graham was a .323 hitter with Manchester of the New England League. He was then purchased by the National League champion New York Giants and joined them on May 23, 1905. And for reasons lost to history, he didn’t play a game until June 29. That day, with the Giants leading 10-0 in the eighth inning, manager John McGraw finally put him in right field. Nobody hit the ball near him.

"With two out in the top of the ninth inning, Moonlight Graham was on deck. He would have been the next hitter, his first time up in the big leagues. But Claude Elliott flied out to end the inning. The Giants sold him to Scranton 16 days later.

"He never got his chance in baseball. But, he did get the chance to help people.

"According to Veda Ponikvar, founder of The Chisholm Free Press and Tribune, Graham jumped on a train to Minnesota after reading a small ad listing a doctor opening. And he never left. Dr. Graham lived in Chisholm right up until his death 54 years later in 1965.

"Ponikvar is also in Field of Dreams. The actress Ann Seymour reads the obituary of Doc Graham that Vida wrote: 'And there were times when children could not afford eyeglasses or milk or clothing. Yet no child was ever denied these essentials because in the background there was always Dr. Graham. Without any fanfare or publicity, the glasses or the milk or the ticket to the ballgame found their way into the child’s pocket.'

"Bob McDonald was one of the other children. He’s been Chisholm High School‘s basketball coach for half a century, only its third since 1921. Doc Graham’s baseball life, his love of sports was important, but it was nothing compared to how important his life was as the town doctor.

“'That’s the big item you see. In baseball, you kind of help yourself and you entertain,' says McDonald. 'Athletics are like that, you entertain people. But he comforted people.'

"Kinsella says it was an asset. 'I mean, what I was afraid of, was that this was going to be a guy who sat in the American Legion bar and bragged about playing in the major leagues for 40 years.'

"As the movie suggests, somewhat tragically, Graham came close but never reached his dream. But Graham, played by Burt Lancaster, famously says, 'If I‘d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes, now that would have been a tragedy.'"

Summer Camp

Sam and Jacob are enjoying the Summer Youth Bazaar camp they've been going to down at the junior high. Even Sam and especially Jake. The camp has an overnight program for the kids their age, so they decided they would stay tonight. (Kait's in the daycamp program at the same place.)

Jacob's been taking his guitar everyday and to listen to him talk it sounds like he is on the fast track to superstardom with the camp crowd. When I dropped them off this morning, I asked Sam if anyone had told Jake that he can't play the guitar yet. He said he didn't know, so I told him not to say anything because Jacob seems so happily ignorant of that fact. Sam just smiled.

Jacob says that he is having a hard time singing and playing at the same time. To illustrate the problem for any guitar-players out there, try forgetting everything you know about music and take your guitar and play bar chords (of course you don't know they're bar chords because you don't know what chords are) starting at the first or second fret and go down a few frets, then up a few frets all to the rhythm of the song, say, Blue Suede Shoes. Now try to sing along. Okay! That's the problem! Sam has a great ear and great feel for rhythm and zero passion; Jacob has tons of passion, but no ear. The great thing is your ear can be trained, so he'll learn. He'll learn because I'm signing him up for guitar lessons at the college starting in July.