Jono's Graduation

 "Jonathan Bentley Ebert."  The announcer at the Huntsman Center finally called out Jono's name, after an hour of uplifting speeches and almost-perfect music by the school choir and orchestra.  I even got a chance to stand as an alumnus of Olympus High School, just like Jono.  It was May 25, 2018, and we all basked in the happiness and promise of one fine boy.

 Each graduate got a moment of fame and adulation, standing on the stage of the gaping stadium, announced individually.  It was our Jono!

 Instead of immediately marching off the stage, Jono and his friends paused, gathering with their group of buddies on the stage.

Then it was all over, 12 years of school, with friends scattering across the earth.  Jono leaves in July for his mission to Fukuoka, Japan.  "It's the Hawaii of Japan, in the very south," Jono exulted.  "Palm trees and everything."

 This was a grand day for grandparents!

 And a proud day for Camille and Steve, as parents.

Jono's dad, Steve, treated us to lunch at Porcupine Grill, with time to talk with Jono about his non-stop trips until he leaves on his mission.  He'll boat on Lake Powell and bask on the beaches of Mexico and Newport Beach, California, with his friends.  He'll travel to New York City to take a family friend to her high school prom, and he'll visit old friends in Boston.  He'll spend a long weekend in St. George with "just family."  Jono has definitely lived a privileged life, but he has remained sweet and unpretentious.  A friend of mine from Rotary, who was Jono's Young Men's advisor, told me that Jono is "a natural leader, and he will be for the rest of his life."

Friends from Turkmenistan

 As I admired my Turkmen server's olive skin and green eyes, I thought of the famous photo from the cover of National Geographic Magazine, showing a young woman from Afghanistan with dark, Arab hair, olive skin, and piercing green eyes.  Did those eyes come from Europe, brought by the soldiers of Alexander the Great so many centuries ago?  I love SLC's annual Living Traditions festival, during which the immigrant communities of Utah sell their ethnic foods and display their dances and crafts.

Which would it be--Serbian, Turkmen, Thai, Nepali, Basque, or African?  My choices of food were enormous and exotic.  I chose Turkmen cuisine on Friday night, May 18, 2018, and snuck back on Saturday for the stuffed peppers and baklava from Serbia.

 Turkmenistan is one of the "Five Stans" of Central Asia, which are at the top of my bucket list to visit.  Their food is just so-so--rice pilaf with chicken, a tart stuffed with spinach, a fried dumpling.

"How did you happen to come to Salt Lake City?" we asked the other server.  They had friends move here, they heard it was a good place.  The server spoke fluent English, though she arrived from Turkmenistan just two years ago. 

Dave and I wandered through the crafts stalls.  This woman is making bobbin lace, just as her ancestors in Ireland did.

 A woodcarver whittled as the crowds swirled around him.

And another woman painted Ukrainian eggs.  What riches the immigrants add to SLC's culture!

Eyring/Eyring

I never thought of my mother as being artistic.  Brilliant, logical, as goal oriented as a heat-seeking missile and as full of energy as a treadmill at the gym--yes.  Artistic?  No.  I love the quarterly lunches I share with my Eyring cousins because I see aspects of the family I never knew before.  When I attended the funeral of my Aunt Jen, Mom's "other side sister", a year or two ago, I was fascinated to hear the story of Aunt Jen telling Grandpa she wanted to be an interior decorator and Grandpa saying, "No.  Our family are teachers."  Aunt Jen became a homec teacher.  This was about the same time my mother told Grandpa she was going to join the Navy and he said, "I'd rather see you in your coffin than in a Navy uniform."  Mom promptly joined the Waves.  In any event, on May 18, 2018, I joined my Eyring cousins for lunch at the home of Judy Peterson, Aunt Isabel's daughter from the "other side," who is a potter and a stained glass artist.

 Judy showed us her studio, filled with a potter's wheel, clay, and slabs of colored glass.

 Judy's stained glass windows were lovely.  As she showed us her creations, Aunt Isabel's and Aunt Maureen's daughters told about what wonderful seamstresses their mothers were, and what good gardeners.  And Midge Evans, Aunt Catherine's daughter from "our side" of the family, told about how much she loves music and how she plays in a symphony at BYU.  Maybe art is part of the  Eyring culture after all....

I love these women.  They are not only talented and charming, but very frank.  Sue (above left), Uncle Tony's granddaughter from his first wife, whom he divorced, told about spending her summers on ritzy Mercer Island in Seattle, where Uncle Tony had an estate as one of the richest bankers in Washington. "There were servants, boats docked on the lakefront, and acres of grass and flowers," she said.  A far cry from Uncle Tony's Pima, Arizona boyhood.  Kay (above right), Aunt Maureen's daughter, takes a special interest in me, since our mothers were born just six months apart and grew up practically as twins.  If I am lucky, at each lunch one of my cousins will say I am just like my mother.

I have loved getting to know Midge Evans (left above).  Her son, James, is a sociology professor at the University of Chicago whom Jonny and Jenny knew from their Chicago ward.  James once went "underground", as a college student in SLC, sleeping with the homeless at Pioneer Park and bringing them to Church at our neighboring ward, where his aunt and uncle, Bob and Judy Edwards, attended services.  Midge is calmly tolerant of all such vagaries.  And my favorite favorite cousin is Little Camilla (right above), Aunt Caroline's daughter.  Little Camilla is on the board of National Public Radio and chair of the board of the Leakey Foundation, which sponsors anthropology research.  She had her DNA tested and found she is 2% Neanderthal.  As I hugged Little Camilla goodbye, I assured her she is my very favorite Neanderthal.  Such good times together!

Sweet Sixteen

Annelise turned sixteen in early May.  "This is a very big birthday for Annelise," Camille reminded me, "and we should do something special."  My part of the "something special" was taking Annelise to dinner at Layla, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Holladay, on May 16, 2018.  We sat on the patio, nibbling at mezze--felafel balls, hummus, and crab cakes.  Annelise told me about her dream of living in New York City or San Francisco some day, and I told her my dream of retiring some day and spending more time with my grandchildren!

Nicholas and the Gang

 Nicholas Spendlove, son of Dave's brother, Alan, graduated from medical school in Dallas this year.  To celebrate, he and his wife, Jessica, took their three children, the oldest of whom is five, on a month-long driving trip from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona, and then up the coast to Seattle.  On their way back to Texas, they stopped by Spokane, where Nicholas will start an internship in July, and then spent a few days in SLC.

 It was a treat to spend a few hours at The Spaghetti Factory, laughing and talking with Alan, Shauna, Jessica, and Nicholas.  A balloon artist stopped by our table and tied balloons for each of the children, including a mermaid for Alan's little girl, complete with green tail and red bra!

Alan so enjoys visits from his children.

Off to Prague!

As we partied at Camille's house on Mother's Day, Lisa was having her own big adventure in Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Lisa, Kyle, and Grant toured the countries where Grant had recently spent two years as a Mormon missionary.  Lisa emailed this photo as she left Seattle on May 3, 2018.  The note:  "On our way to Prague...and that is Paris!  Not Paris, Idaho."

Mama Mia

Mother's Day is a big deal for Mormons.  Not only is it the day to honor the family's "domestic goddess", but it is also one of only two days per year when Mormon missionaries can call home.  Camille invited us to join the Eberts, on May 13, 2018, to celebrate both of those Big Events.

 We were at the Eberts' home by 8 a.m., as they Skyped Emilie in Rumania, where she has just finished her first year as a missionary.  She will be home at Christmastime. 

 Emilie was as upbeat and happy over the internet as she sounds each week in her emails.  She says she is having not only memorable spiritual experiences, but lots of fun!

Steve asked Emilie, as missionary, and Jono, as missionary-to-be, to finish our hour together by bearing their testimonies of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  Emilie then said a prayer in Rumanian, and we bid each other goodbye for another six months.  Jono will have already left for his mission to Japan when Emilie returns home.

 Steve fixed a Mother's Day brunch of crepes with nutella and berries.  Annelise greeted that news with a big smile!

 The whole gang was there, including Sopha, Ezra, and their dad.

 Steve's mom, Marilyn Ebert, joined us to hear Emilie and to warmly greet her other grandchildren.

After breakfast, Dave and I hurried off to our own Church, but regrouped at the Ebert home in the afternoon for Mother's Day dinner.  We began the feast with a cheese platter.

Mike and Heidi joined us for dinner.

 Sophia and her sisters are more beautiful each time we see them.

 Camille's buffet was sumptuous, from the homemade rolls to the flank steak, roasted squash and tomatoes, green salad with hearts of palm, and ice cream with lemon curd.

 Jono just had his wisdom teeth out, and was limited to everything soft, squishy, and yellow.

 The rest of us had no such limitations!

And, finally, the world's most efficient clean-up man.