We're not dead yet

Despite the weeping, wailing and rending of clothing, we are not dead yet.

No one is more adverse to change than I (ask your mother). But sometimes it can not be helped.

Let me review some things for each of you. Most of you are too young to remember, or were not even born yet, when we moved from Bay Village. Your mother and I did not want to move, we had gone home to the place where we grew up and intended to stay there forever. Sadly it was not to be and we moved to St. Louis.

St. Louis proved to be a great place for us and our family and we intended to stay there for the remainder of our lives. That was not to be either and although we resisted for over a year and it was very hard to leave many, many good friends behind, we moved again.

Rockton turned out to be a better place than we could have imagined. Great opportunities for church service and great job opportunities for your mother and I, and an even better place to raise our children. We have watched each of you grow here, some leave home, get married, etc. etc. etc. As for our house and backyard, thanks to slave labor, it is a bit of heaven and no one will miss the trees and all more than I will. We all have good friends here as well.

Having said all this, it seems it is time to move again. Your dear old dad is getting on in years and jobwise is in the latter years of employment. That does not mean I expect to be able to retire any time soon, however at 57, one’s opportunities begin to be limited. I have an offer of a significant promotion (first Sales Mgr then VP Sales) with WesTech. However that opportunity only exists if I am working out of the Salt Lake office.

In addition, I hope that your mother and I will be able to serve a mission in the next 3 – 4 years. (You will ALL be asked to help support this effort). I will have to return to work after that mission since we will not have enough money to retire full time. The chances of me returning to a meaningful, well paid job at WesTech are excellent, IF I am working out of the Salt Lake office. They are considerably less to non-existant if I am still working out of Rockton.

Your mother is less than thrilled with the idea of moving. You all well know her feelings towards Utah. However she has always seen the right road forward and been willing to make whatever sacrifice was required to move along it. This was true when we joined the church, it was true as we prayerfully considered how many children to have, and in every move we have made since then. I have no doubt that if she had been in Nauvoo at the time of the early Saints, she would have been in one of the lead wagons.

Now regarding children and grandchildren. Yes we will be sad to be seeing less of some, we will be happy to be seeing more of others. We will do everything possible to see as much of everyone as we can. We will also miss the Sunday dinners. It is the highlight of the week and we wish we could have even more contact with Noah and Jackson (and their parents can come too). But that does not seem to be the way of the world. We hope to make up for some of this by having them come to stay with us in Utah (summers, vacations, etc.) and by coming to see them as often as we can.

Regarding children, I confess to being a little surprised at the depth of emotion everyone has for Rockton. But if you are really motivated, you will find ways to make it back here from time to time.

I would note here that it will probably be at least another 6 – 8 months before we move. There is time to build stronger relationships between grandparents and grandchildren, time to say goodbye to a place that will always hold fond memories, etc. Time to make and keep your “Bucket List” of things to do prior to leaving Rockton.

Looking forward: It is our plan to make the trip to Cleveland at the 4th of July our annual family reunion. At present that seems to still be a central location for our family.

We intend to take full advantage of all of the natural resources of the inner-mountain West, national and state parks, Lake Powell, skiing, etc. and hope that everyone will come visit us at least once or twice per year for an extended stay. We also will come visit everyone and in the same way that I now visit those Utah several times each year, I will still be traveling and visiting those who are not in Utah.

In short there will still be many, many memories to be made. They will be different in nature, but will still be loving and strong.

We all resist change, we resent it, we fear it, we just don’t want it. However it is one of the constants in the universe. We still have the opportunity to be a Forever Family and if we live in such a way as to attain this goal, we will never be separated again.

Your mother and I love each of you. We pray for each one of you. We want what’s best for each one of you. We try to do what we think will be best for all of us in the long run.

I have a testimony of the gospel, I have a testimony of the eternal nature of families, and I have a testimony that it is by following the example of Christ that we can attain these things.

Love, Dad