I've Joined the Missionary Mom Ranks

What a crazy week it has been. Owen entered the MTC yesterday. I've already posted pictures of the day on his blog, but didn't write very much from my perspective because, after all, it's HIS blog of his mission, not mine. I'm anxious for any news from my kiddo, but not worried about him. He's going to be a terrific missionary. So here's what I started writing yesterday:

"I had vowed last week that we would not be cutting preparations down to the last minute, that we would be all done by Tuesday morning -- yesterday. I thought we were done with shopping last week. I can hear you snickering over there, especially those of you who have done this before. I have been to a store of some kind daily for the past week, including this morning, to get last-minute shopping done. We got home this morning from One Last Trip to Walmart, only to discover I forgot spray-on stain remover. It was even written down on a four-item list. How hard can it be to remember FOUR things? Obviously a challenge for me. In my defense I was sleep-deprived because I have been up with Owen past midnight for two nights and up early in the morning the next day working to get all of his clothing marked as his in some way, hemming a pair of white trousers, photocopying documents, answering questions, talking, packing. It sure takes a lot longer than I thought to whipstitch a little knot of color on the tags of 10 shirts and 10 pairs of socks, not to mention writing "Elder OK" on everything else. The potential fun he will have with his initials was not lost!"

A day later it is easy for me to see how I was so caught up in the details of getting Owen ready. I found myself even giving him laundry lessons as we were driving to Provo to meet Justin at Village Inn for lunch. We didn't quite have time for lunch, so we got pie instead. That was on top of the doughnuts Owen bought for us for breakfast at The Donut Hole in Payson, a new donut shop in town that only Evan and I had tried. I decided that a trip to The Cocoa Bean (for our favorite cupcakes) was probably not the best idea once we dropped Owen off.

The pie at Village Inn was fun as well as tasty. Owen was too keyed up to eat any, so he just ordered lemonade. We decided to drive our two cars up to the Provo temple on the east side to take some family pictures and say a last good-bye before dropping Owen off. Another couple and their youngest son had the same idea and we traded off taking family pictures so everyone in a family could be in their picture. An long-time family friend of ours, Shirley Ricks, happened to be driving by so she stopped to say hello and good luck.

We found ourselves with 15 minutes left and so I requested we swing by the doctor's office to pick up a copy of Owen's most recent immunizations because he was supposed to have those for the MTC. I was glad for the quick stop because I could have Owen fill out a form to allow Justin and me access to his medical records there in case we needed them. Now he is over eighteen we don't have automatic access to those, even though he is still on our insurance. Thank you HEPA.

As we got back to the MTC to get in the car line Owen glanced at the clock and said, "AGH! It's 1:01 p.m. I'm late to my mission!!" He wasn't actually upset, but we joked about how well, since we're already late guess that means he doesn't get to go. NOT! The entrance to the MTC was divided into two car lanes and a bright green sticky note was stuck on our windshield to signal where along the long curb we were supposed to pull in to "donate" Owen. Justin joked about how this was like a giant Deseret Industries for children. He joked with the first staffer we stopped by that we were there to make a Donation. A little goofiness at a time like this is good. There were missionaries and staff members along both sides of the drive directing traffic, families, and missionaries. We pulled in alongside the curb at the very front end of the line where there was a large opening. A grinning elder with a paper "HOST" tag above his regular missionary badge greeted us and said, "I'm here to take care of your son." Justin and I both got out with Owen to get his suitcases out and give him a final hug.

And then he was off down the sidewalk.

The kids and I headed home and Justin headed back to work for the afternoon. After a short nap Bronwyn, Liam, and I headed out to the library. It was a good distraction. My brother-in-law Richard came down in the evening and took us to dinner at our local Indian restaurant. It was a good evening.

Today I am a little teary at random moments, but overall so happy for the choices Owen has made that allowed him to serve the Lord as well as the choice he made to go on a mission.