The List

Father's Day was yesterday. We are still feeling the ripples from the waves of meaningful Fathers in our lives. You know how sometimes you wish there were more days in the week-end? Well that's pretty much how I feel about special days that pay honor to our loved ones. They are not long enough. Sometimes we need a refresher more than just once a year.

When I was 18, my brother Jeff and I got our Patriarchal Blessings. It has been a true blessing in my life. I don't read it overly a lot, but I know exactly where it is. My connection with it is almost daily though, as I rehearse in my mind those memorized words of personal council that sometimes catch me off guard. It was especially meaningful in my younger days, when I first received it. This was my own blessing. I would read it over and over. That's when the words began imprinting in my mind and heart.

To this day, I can recite a long paragraph that means a lot to me. It's the one where it talks about being worthy and recognizing my future companion. It begins with "He will . . .and he will . . . and he will . . ." When I think about it, if lists were part of blessings, mine would have been written in list form. When I met Randy, I knew the list. I also knew what to watch for. The more I knew Randy, the more easily I could insert "Randy will . . .and Randy will . . . and Randy will . . . " Heavenly Father knew Randy. He also knew me. He knew I needed a list. I was warned to be extremely careful in choosing. I was. Randy came along and was everything on the list.

Some of the list pertained to he and I, but a lot of the list was all about our future children. So when it came to the "he will" parts, it was easy to picture Randy as a Dad, even though that seemed so far in our future. I never worried about it and I never will. I am grateful for faith, spiritual promptings, families, a knowing Heavenly Father, . . . and Randy, the good Dad that I recognized from "the list"even before we had children.