Creative Jobs

In an effort to be more literate, I have been doing some reading. I just finished A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. I had never read it and only seen the movie. There were several interesting things in it that made me think--the sure sign of good literature. Mark Twain, never one to be shy with his opinions, was vocal in his dislike of organized religion, the English feudal system, and monarchies to name a few things.

In talking about work he stated that those who do "creative" jobs (artists, musicians, architects, etc.) do not need to be paid because their payment is in the creating. Not that they shouldn't necessarily be paid but that they would do the job anyway without payment because of the enjoyment and need to create. I can see that in the lives of my siblings. Susan would create with or without payment and in fact, figuring out how to get paid is the worst part of the process and she would love to live without it if she could. Same goes for Steve. He could no more stop being involved in music than he could stop breathing, weather or not he was being paid. I guess that's the difference between true "artists" and those who like to dabble.

So, here's to the artists in my family and everywhere. Thanks for the beauty!

Attempted Social Interaction

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not really a social creature. I have a lot of Grandma Myrl in me. Dad always said that his mother loved her family fiercely and enjoyed spending time with them but as far as other people went, she could do with out them in general. That's pretty much how I behave. I don't know that I really feel that way but I certainly act that way. And it is not a good way to be. Not that I have anything against Grandma Myrl, but I have always longed to have friends and be just a little social. So, after attending Mom and Dad's family home evening group that they have with some empty-nesters in their ward once a month, I thought maybe we could try it in our ward.

Our ward is very young so there are not many empty-nesters. We sent out 10 invitations (that's all the active old people). Two of the couples that we hoped would come had conflicts and could not come. We heard back from two other couples and no one else. So, last night we had our first family home evening group with two couples in the ward. Both of these couples are significantly older than we are. One of the men graduated from East High in 1956, the year after I was born. The other couple was saying that their youngest child just turned 40. Neither of them like to come out after dark but fortunately it is summer so it was still light.

After about 10 minutes, one of the couples got a phone call and had to leave. Was that pre-arranged? (I'm only a little paranoid when it comes to social things.) So it was just the four of us. We had a short lesson that Gary and I each gave part of and some refreshments (of course, we made enough for 20 people). We chatted a bit and that was it.

I guess we will try again next month and see how it goes. If nothing else, it gives me a good reason to clean the house once a month!