Odds and (week)Ends

Why do men not hear when babies cry? Or know that the laundry needs to be switched? Or . . .

1. I was the pronouncer at Callie’s school’s spelling bee yesterday. It was a profound celebration of American English orthography, but I was relieved when it was over and the very-worried-looking champion crowned.

2. It wasn’t at all an exorcising of the time I was in the school spelling bee and tied for 2nd place with three other girls after we all misspelled “adios.” Cody spelled it right because he’d seen it in the Elmo book he read to his little brother the night before. Maybe it was poetic that he was rewarded for such sweetness (even at eleven I might have swooned a tiny bit), but “adios” ISN’T EVEN ENGLISH, in case you’re wondering.

3. NatTheFatRat wrote a masterful response to the Salon piece that I wrote about here. I also wanted to follow up some other comments and agree that Mormons are maybe more likely to get help for depression because we expect to be happy in this life, to find joy, and when we don’t, we are given to soul-searching and looking for answers. Too often we feel guilt for perceived failures (or honest regret for things we do need to change), but sometimes we realize that something else is needed. Or, as Dallin Oaks said in quoting Brigham Young:

The use of medical science is not at odds with our prayers of faith and our reliance on priesthood blessings. When a person requested a priesthood blessing, Brigham Young would ask, “Have you used any remedies?” To those who said no because “we wish the Elders to lay hands upon us, and we have faith that we shall be healed,” President Young replied: “That is very inconsistent according to my faith. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and [then] to ask my Father in Heaven … to sanctify that application to the healing of my body.”

4. True confession: I don’t like comic books. I’m kind of a snob when it comes to graphic novels. But Avery got her hands on a copy of Rapunzel’s Revenge from her across-the-street bookie (like a drug dealer only more addicting) and has read it over and over, including out loud to her sisters. I am converted! Perhaps she will find a copy of Calamity Jack on her birthday pillow.

Adios!