I met Mike Myatt and John Lang in 5th grade. John and Mike had known each other since kindergarten, but they welcomed me into their crew anyway. In 7th grade, we met Steve Gutteridge, who had gone to a different elementary school. His wacky sense of humor fit right in with Mike's, John's and my own, so he quickly melded into our group. In 9th grade, a new kid named Tim Thompson moved into town and Rincon Valley Junior High. It was clear pretty quickly that this kid was our kind of guy, and he joined us in our shenanigans. Thus is the genesis of the core group of "The Guys." By high school, I could tell my parents that I was going out with "The Guys" and they knew exactly who I meant. We share many very deep and abiding memories from our school days. Notice that I didn't use the words "poignent" or "deeply meaningful." Granted, there were some of them, but most were just memorable because we always had a TON of fun together.
Well, a few months ago, I was talking with Mike on the phone, and he said he'd like to come out and visit me. Of course I told him I'd love a visit. Well, within a couple weeks of that call, Mike told me that Steve, Tim and John all wanted to join him. Sweet. I was thrilled. We ultimately decided that my my at-home post-transplant recovery would be the best time for their visit. Once the date for my transplant was scheduled, we were able to schedule their visit. They got into their hotel late Friday night, and we spent the majority of Saturday, Sunday and Monday together.
We had snow Friday, so when they got here on Saturday morning, they immediately went to work pelting each other and shooting baskets with snowballs before even coming to the door. A couple of my kids were watching through the front window and got an early impression of what The Guys were like. Remember, these are Northern California kids who don't see much snow during the winter unless they take a trip up to the Sierras (except Tim, of course, who lives in Reno and sees plenty of snow). I gave them a tour of the house and then, because the kids had commandeered the TVs and video game consoles, taught them the joys of Ticket To Ride (TTR), one of my and Noelle's favorite games. We had lunch and made a Starbucks run to help keep them all awake after their long and exhausting drive in from San Jose, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Reno on Friday. The weather was warming up a little, so I decided to take them for a walk on the Jordan River Parkway. That's one of our family's favorite spots and where we had our family pictures taken last October, the Saturday before I began chemotherapy. According to Google Maps, we walked about 2.1 miles Saturday, and I was pretty tired by the time we finished. The Guys bought us dinner -- take out from Cafe Rio, our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Utah. Gratefully, it tasted good to me and I ate about 2/3 of my big salad. I impressed myself, as my appetite has not been very big since returning from the hospital. We capped off the evening playing a card game called Five Crowns.
Sunday was our Easter program at Church, as our stake is having Fast Sunday on Easter with General Conference the first weekend of April. Our family decided to fast this Sunday, though, so our kids can enjoy Easter treats on Easter morning. Anyway, I went to Sacrament Meeting with my family and my wonderful mask that makes my face sweat after 10 minutes. Abby had a solo with the choir and I had to be there. The guys came at 12:15, just as I was walking across the street to my home. We played video games and foosball until the family got home, then left the four younger kids with The Guys while Noelle, Abby and I went to our stake Patriarch's home so Abby could receive her Patriarchal Blessing. That was a beautiful experience. We got home to find that the four younger kids hadn't even missed us and probably would have been just peachy if we hadn't returned for several hours. They love The Guys. We had our traditional early Sunday dinner around 3:30. Noelle made her shredded barbecue chicken in the crock pot. Put that over rice with some peas on the side...yum. Once again, I surprised myself with how much I ate...and I hadn't even been fasting. It was the first time in months that I had seconds. Granted, my two portions were a bit smaller than what I would consider a "normal" serving for me, but it definitely marked progress for me. After dinner, the kids all went upstairs to watch movies, and Noelle and I taught The Guys the card game that has been a Mann/Philpott family tradition for years. It's called "Butt Man." We had fun and were able to keep our friendships intact...just barely. =0) I was pretty beat and worn out after all we had done and the long walk on Saturday. I began yawning some time between 5:00 and 6:00. I decided to call it a night around 7:30. I was in bed a little after 8:00. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fall asleep until almost 11:00. I just had trouble turning off my brain.
Yesterday, The Guys picked me up around 11:00 a.m. and we headed off to Temple Square. There were virtually no missionaries to be found to provide us with a tour, so I became the tour guide for the day. I was able to answer a lot of questions they had about the Salt Lake Temple, temples in general, family history and the sealing of families for eternity, the priesthood, LDS Church leadership, General Conference, and several other topics. We enjoyed -- really enjoyed our lunch at Kneader's, which is in the mall across the street. Here are some pictures from Temple Square and the Conference Center.
It was a great day to finish off a great weekend. I'm so glad they all made the trip. Spending this time with Mike, Steve, Tim and John was good for my soul. I hope it was good for theirs, as well.
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