WORDS TO LIVE BY ...

 A few days ago, I was asked what I would consider as my motto.  

Well, when I think of something that I would consider my motto, several things come to mind. Short, pithy little statements that can keep me going when it feels like maybe I can’t put one foot in front of the other any longer.

****One of the first things that comes to mind is this homily I learned while growing up. We used to call it the Pioneer Adage.

I have NO idea who coined the little couplet, but it helped me make a lot of decisions, both little and big, for myself before I got married and also while running a household of eight people for all the years my kids were growing up.

  USE IT UP. WEAR IT OUT. MAKE IT DO OR DO WITHOUT.

I still refer to this little verse. And when the decision is to “make it do or do without”, I think of the motto Louis uses frequently. Something he learned in the Army. Then I look around to see what I can use to make the thing “do” for me.

  ADAPT AND OVERCOME

****Another motto, I guess you could call it, is this one when I REALLY need an omph to push me along.

  I COME FROM PIONEER STOCK. I CAN DO THIS!

These are the times I am in pain, or a job seems overwhelming, or I am racked with guilt because I haven’t taken care of some promised outcome. This is when I remember that I don’t have to cross the Great American Desert barefoot, under a broiling sun, and eat the dust of the people trudging ahead of me. Then I can start again to tackle the job I have to accomplish.

****Probably, my kids would say my motto, as I led the family in housework, laundry, and any kind of project was an emphatic

  MY WAY!

But it got the job done, albeit with some resentment and lingering dislike through to their adulthood, I’m sure.  But my way is a dang good way!

Perhaps my creed would be a more accurate way of judging how I try to live my life. Not by just a few clever words, but by adhering to and following a soul-searching treatise I wrote several years ago on a layover in Houston, Texas, in June 2012. This was in response to an invitation the instructor of our congregation's weekly women's auxiliary meeting gave at the end of a lesson about George Albert Smith a week or so before. That was during the era our study manual for the year was the Teachings of the Prophet, each year a different Prophet.

George Albert Smith was the prophet and religious leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was born, but he died when I was about five years old. His Creed is quite a legacy. It was a blueprint of his life and a hallmark of how he acted in all his many roles.

I hope my creed is also a legacy for those in my family who come after me. Though some of the wording reflects my employment with United Airlines at that time, my aspiration to live this creed in my current life circumstances is the same. Here it is….

MY CREED

I would seek the blessings of paying a full tithe, as I know my willingness to do so protects me in both spiritual and temporal ways.

I would look forward to attending Sunday meetings and cultivate the feelings of peace and serenity the Sabbath affords for a successful week ahead.

I would take opportunity to read and peruse the magazines published by the Church in order to enhance my gospel scholarship and learn better ways to live the gospel on a daily basis.

I would recognize that many people around me are in need of ministering, and I can do that by looking them in the eye and sincerely greeting them as I pass them on the street, see them on the plane, or rub shoulders with them at Church meetings.

I would rejoice in small encouragements I can give which will nevertheless uplift those people with whom I come in contact.

I will complement them on a color or item of clothing they are wearing, some assignment they performed, or an event in their lives.

I would note how my own heart is warmed when I am remembered on my special days, and I will remember others on their special days.

I would recall the mundane and thankless jobs I have had over my lifetime and then make sure I thank the cleaners on the plane, the housekeepers who have made my hotel room clean and comfortable, and the caterers who work in all kinds of weather delivering food to the galleys on the plane.

I would remember my commission to share the gospel—with everyone.

And that “everyone” includes my friends, my neighbors in the world, and my family, some of whom may be in a different place on the road to eternal life.

I would keep always uppermost in my mind that I set out for salvation, and I will live each day to that end.

4th of July 2025

 

         

About 15 years ago when I was going through Customs into Canada one day for my job as a flight attendant with United Airlines, I was flipping through the Visa pages in my passport just out of curiosity to see how many times I had crossed the border from the time I had renewed my passport the year before.

The format of the passport itself had changed since my last one had been issued ten years before that new one.  For some reason, though, I had never paid any attention to the writing on the pages.  Turns out that “writing” is quotes having to do with the United States on each opened double-page.  I probably was only in a hurry to get through the line and into the country during each previous visit.  Never registered with me.

However, as I read each of those quotes that day, I was really impressed with the content of each one which reflected how most of our country USED to feel about our freedom in America and our responsibility to the world as the great nation we are. 

I share them here as we anticipate celebrating Independence Day once again on the Fourth of July 2025.  I am also including a quote about The Book of Mormon’s warning to us relative to our living in this free land.

As you read all of these impressive quotes about our country's freedom, I invite you--and myself--to do the following:

**   Pledge once again your loyalty to the United States

**  Always give gratitude for the blessings which we receive from God here in America on a daily basis 

**  Dedicate yourself to do whatever you can to help our country remain free

We each are ONLY one.  But we ARE One.  What we do does count!

Wishing you a Happy 4^th of July, however you plan to celebrate this year!

Love, 

From your fellow American and friend….

 

 

 ‘’Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity…” Book of Mormon 2 NE.1:7

…AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH.      Abraham Lincoln

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.   John F. Kennedy

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class—it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.         Anna Julia Cooper

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.    George Washington

We hold these truths to be self-evident:  that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.    Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave       Francis Scott Key

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.  Dwight D. Eisenhower

May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad unites the two great oceans of the world.              Inscribed on the Golden Spike, Promontory Point, 1869

NAMES WITH A STORY...

Georgia   Carol   

                           

    a.k.a.            Georgia Peach

                                Sweet Georgia Brown    

                                      Georgia on My Mind   

                                            Georgy Girl

We had occasion recently to ask some young people if their name had a story behind it—perhaps a special reason their parents named them that particular name. One boy was able to say he knew his name was from the Bible. That was all.  The others didn’t seem to have a clue.

That made me doubly grateful there are not one, but two, stories about my name.

My mother’s brother George was about four and a half years older than she was, but they were childhood friends while growing up on their ranch in southeastern Idaho. He showed her how to ride a horse, played on the teetertotter with her, and taught her to dance when she was finally old enough to go to the Church dances.

They were close as children and for several years after they grew up. 

Even though he died as a young father with small children, and she had already moved to Utah, George was still her favorite brother.

 He was playing on the local baseball team in his town when he suffered a ruptured appendix. George died from the ensuing infection since there were no antibiotics at that time in the late 1920’s.

I was named Georgia because of my mother's fond memories of George.

Carol was a pretty special choice for my middle name, as well, because of an event during my mother's hospital stay after my birth.  

I was born on Sunday, December 2, 1945, at 1:16 a.m.  

Because I was born in December, and time in the hospital for mothers and babies was quite lengthy during that time, carolers came one night and sang for the patients at Carbon County Memorial Hospital in Rawlins, Wyoming, where I entered the world. My mother said she felt such a wonderful holiday spirit during that occasion while they sang familiar carols.  It was almost like a Christmas lullaby, she said.

So, my mother wanted my middle name to be Carol in view of the fact Christmas carolers had come to the hospital during her lying-in.

I have to admit, though, there was a bit of time when I was in elementary school that I wished my name was one of the popular girl’s names at that time like Mary, Jane, or Susan instead of Georgia.

However, one day I took a look around our classroom and realized that I was the ONLY Georgia in the class. In fact, I was the ONLY Georgia in the whole school. And I was probably the ONLY Georgia in the entire town I lived in. I didn’t meet another person named Georgia until I was in college, although I was familiar with the names Georgia O'Keefe, artist, and Georgia Gibbs, jazz singer while I was growing up.

Then I got smart! 

I began to appreciate the uniqueness of my name, though some articles about the frequency of my name say that Georgia was popular in the early 40’s, before it declined in use. Didn’t seem so to me. I was the one—and ONLY—Georgia. 

Plus, it was fun to have some popular songs featuring my name, as well. 

When I was a little girl, a lot of people would call me "Sweet Georgia Brown", later the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters.  In 1960 Ray Charles' iconic ballad "Georgia on My Mind" was a whole different sort of style to identify my name.  Later in the 60's, when I was in college, a British band The Seekers had a pop hit "Georgy Girl".  It was a bouncy tune which epitomized that whole rock scene.  I liked all of them.  I also felt special when my older sisters began calling me "Georgia Peach" from the time I was just a tot.

I am pleased both my names have a story behind their choice. I truly feel my name matches who I grew up to be:  a "Georgia Carol". 

FATHER'S DAY

 

NOTE:  Today is Father's Day 2025.  

When I opened my computer a few minutes ago to write a letter, I saw this little blurb detailing some background of this commemorative day.  Though I knew how Mother's Day began, I don't think I ever heard anything about how the celebration of Father's Day came about.

Click on the links to find out some additional information about the details associated with this special day. I think you will find them interesting.

And in spite of the fact MY father-in-law was negative and vocal about Father's Day being just another way for  merchants to take something out of thin air and commercialize it (to the point it kind of wrecked our kids' enthusiasm to fete him), I think celebrating our dads is a great way to let them know they are important in our lives!  I loved making this day special for my own father and for my husband who was the father of our children.

FATHER’S DAY

 

Each June, stores roll out their Father’s Day best — sales on ties, watches, and barbecue grills. But when Father’s Day was first created, a much smaller token was given out to dads: roses. Flowers aren’t as heavily advertised for Father’s Day now as they are for mothers in May, yet the link between dads and the delicate blooms comes from the earliest American celebrations of the holiday. The first known Father’s Day is tied to the West Virginia mining community of Fairmont. On July 5, 1908, the town held a church service honoring the lives of fathers in their community, many of whom had perished the December before in what is widely considered the worst mining disaster in U.S. history. However, the church event was held just one time, and another city propelled the holiday into national view.  In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd launched her campaign to honor fathers from her home in Spokane, Washington. As the daughter of a Civil War veteran and widower who had raised six children, Dodd believed fathers deserved recognition for their roles. Within a year, she had drummed up community support, and on June 19, 1910, Washington became the first state to celebrate Father’s Day. Dodd’s first festivities included an exchange of roses; children gave red roses to their fathers and pinned color-coded buds to their shirts — red for living fathers and white roses in honor of the deceased. The activist even rode through the city, handing out flowers and gifts to fathers who couldn’t leave home. Over time, the tradition of giving roses to dads faded away, but the holiday stuck around. After years of rallying, Father’s Day became a federally recognized holiday in 1972.