Night Alone

Friday night was quiet around here. I was alone for the first time in, I don't know how long. Kenneth was off at Woodbadge and my parents had agreed to take my kids for the night so that I wouldn't have to worry about them while helping with Sadie's garage sale and bake sale.

I dropped off my kids in Orem, picked up some donation items from family members and headed back to drop the items off at the sale site. I got there before the official drop off time, so there wasn't very much stuff yet. Amazing Jen Morrison had the school gym set up into different sections: furniture, clothes, toys, books, etc. I dropped off my stuff and headed back home to eat dinner and pick up my donation stuff. By the time I got back 2 hrs later the gym was packed. I about had a heart attack. I could not believe how much stuff we had. The baked goods table was full of delicious looking stuff. It was pretty exciting. People are very generous and apparently American's have way too many clothes. It was crazy. We ended up having to move some items outside. The biggest job was sorting the clothes. We had some wonderful people that stayed to help set up even though they weren't originally signed up to help out that night. Nick Srogus was amazing. He picked up things on his trailer and stayed as late as everyone else and helped move things around. Also, my sister, Becky, her family and her friends came out after a soccer game to drop off things that they had picked up and things they were themselves donating. They were so kind to do that. I personally didn't stay very late. I wasn't feeling well and so I left around 10:30 pm. The others stayed until 11:45 pm.

It was so quiet at home all alone. I was actually grateful that I had a dog. I know, amazing. I realized that if I didn't have anyone else around in my life I would most likely have a pet. Right now in my life I have enough companions that I don't have a void to fill with a pet, so I tolerate them now. It is nice for those very rare occasions when I am alone though. I was hurting so bad that I had to take a bath to relax before I could sleep. What a sleep though. I slept through the night very soundly. I got out of bed with 20 minutes to go before I was supposed to be back at the garage sale. I didn't have to worry about kids, so my getting ready and out the door time was much shorter. I got there a little after 7:35. The place looked amazing and we were given instructions from Jen and we went to work. We were set up in different sections. The helpers all wore shirts that said, "For Sadie's Sake." We would write the price of the item that someone was purchasing on a sticky note and then as they did their shopping another person in another section would add to it. So when they went to checkout they already had their total. It was so organized. We were way cool and super professional. I was over furniture. My friend, Colleen, was next to me in sporting goods so we had a lot of fun hanging out and chatting during the slow times. A little before noon I was able to go help out with the princess pictures. The city arranged for some princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Miss Eagle Mountain(She looked a lot like Princess Jasmine) to have pictures taken with the kids for a donation. The kids were so cute and the princesses were lovely. It was a long morning, but fun and so worth it. We made over $8500 to help the Huish family with Sadie's expenses. Again, Nick Srogus spent the whole day helping out and donated his delivery services. At the end of the sale the men of our ward converged and helped get everything moved out and cleaned up. I think it took over 4 trailers/truckloads full of stuff to get everything that was left to D. I.

I felt so privileged to be a part of this event. I am so blessed to live here and to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I'm not going to list everyone because I would miss people for sure. Just know that you all rock and I'm proud to know you. Also, thanks to my parents who kept the kids happy and alive.