-----Original Message----- From: Tom Matkin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: November 7, 2003 4:59 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: This is Me
I wear hats. Fedora's, Pendletons, Straws, Outbacks, and the like. I wear hats in a place where all the other men, and a few of the women, favour ball caps. Even in their Sunday best they will sometimes wear a John Deere cap... to the temple. It used to startle me a bit, but I've grown accustomed to it. Others have had trouble becoming accustomed to me in my black fedora, but ain't that the way it is, some of us never sit quite easy in the saddle. I should be more comfortable. I was born here. My dad was born here, my grandfather was born here, my great grandfather came here 3 weeks before the main body of pioneer settlers led by the town's founder, C.O. Card. (Hence the name Cardston). So this place is in my blood and in my bones, it's my home. I left Cardston to go to school and on a mission in France for the minimum time. I was away for 8 years and came home a newly qualified lawyer, with a wonderful wife and three young children (operative word, young, although one of them would die of SIDS within a month of our coming back to Cardston, which humbled and strengthened me more than anything else in all my life) with the audacity to open my own firm. That was in 1975. I've been here ever since although I did have a partner for a few years, but times got tough and he moved back to the city to seek a fortune. There is still no fortune here to even bother to seek. I have no business ambitions whatsoever. Every financial investment that I have ever made has been a disaster. I enjoy my life, but I have little of this life's things and I have no desire to have any more than I have, so I'm happy. Most of our kids are grown now. The caboose is only 10 though and that provides endless enjoyment for his older siblings. I have a daughter, our oldest, who owns the house directly next door to my own. That provides me with endless opportunities to fix up and maintain another house and yard. That daughter remains unmarried and has been teaching school for about 8 years. She's the most valiant wonderful soul that I know. And also, perhaps, as disappointed a person as there is on this earth. She's the Young Women's president in our ward. My next son is in Kansas. He's working on a PhD. in Public Administration. He has two boys and a lovely energetic wife. They are too far away to my liking and he has just started the program and will be gone for 4 years at least. Our next daughter is married to a lawyer who works in Salt Lake as a bankruptcy Attorney. They live in Springville just now but hope to move to Bountiful soon so he can be more available to help his wife, my daughter, with their 4 young children. Young, again, being the operative word. My next child is the colourful, vibrant and opinionated Ginger. She's in nursing school and seems to love it. In a year she hopes to graduate and go out into an exciting world of opportunities. The next, coming after a 13 year gap, is the 10 year old, who loves chiasmus and Sponge Bob Square Pants with equal intensity. My wife Betty is a woman of marvelous spiritual gifts. She senses and responds to others needs with uncanny and inexplicable ability. If there is a need, she *knows* about it without having to be told. It's fun to watch, but it's hard on her. There is more need out there than any one of us could ever meet. So she's always torn. She's a cub leader just now, but has been president of every women's organization in the ward at one time or another so she has some leadership ability in addition to her high levels of compassion and perception. She's a convert to the church, having been baptized right after her 18th birthday (a parental condition). No one else from her side of the family has accepted the church. She dumped the guy that introduced her to the church, while he was on his mission, to marry me. I don't think it was a character flaw, it was a brave act on her part, sort of like Nephi cutting off Laban's head, it seemed wrong in most moral paradigms, but apparently the Lord wanted it to happen, so she has never looked back. And I was pleased then, and even more so now. My hobby is trying out new hobbies. I've tried a lot of fun things, from moto cross racing to rock polishing. I read the scriptures a lot, I waste enormous amounts of time on the Internet, and I publish a weekly family newsletter that has now been going for over 490 consecutive weeks. I do some singing, have dabbled in poetry, written a few songs, acted in some plays and done some other writing for my own and other's pleasure. I try to be faithful in the church and have served as a bishop, ordinance worker, high councilor, seminary teacher, and a host of other things. Recently I was the assistant ward choir director when Elder Hafen came to town and rooted me out of that cushy job to make me the stake president. Fortunately my talents are more suited to stake presidency things than to leading a choir. So a lot of people have benefited from Elder Hafen's choice, not the least of which is the 9th ward choir. Because of that I left my long time service as a director of a large credit union and the president of the local historical society. Even so, I still wear a lot of hats. Tom Whatever the question, the answer is love. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html --^----------------------------------------------------------------