Letter to Ted Strub

This is a letter to my high school buddy, Ted Strub. We share early October birthdays (pictures) and correspond with each other in October:

Thanks, Ted for you email and your phone call. It was certainly unexpected - a pleasant surprise. I appreciate the certain, though very thin and stretched, bond between old friends.

I had another very unexpected phone call a couple of weeks ago. Sid Henderson called me. I was riding my bike with Kaaren and we had worked so hard to find a time we could ride together so I just picked the phone out of my pocket and put it up to my ear without stopping and getting off the bike. We talked about a number of old times and made arrangements for my son, Forrest, to bunk at his house in Orem, Utah for a few days while he waits for his condo to be ready to move in while he had already started his fall classes at BYU - which was the reason for the call - he'd heard we had a need for temporary housing. Anyway we talked for about 20 minutes. He is recovering (he hopes) from prostrate cancer.

My cousin, David Tadje, who is my age has also had prostrate cancer. It is sobering. Given the state of my health, 100 pounds overweight (I still can't believe this and that is part of the problem) , I consider myself a walking time-bomb and want to get my life out of the mess it is in and on a healthier track - if I can just get the time... Anyway we finished the call and I was still riding my bike - at least i was riding and not sitting in a chair.

I envy your travels and interesting work. It sounds like a good life and a good contribution. Mine is a "kinder, gentler" law practice with a mission to give people security and peace of mind in their mature years. Most of the time it is pretty rewarding, too.In Darmstadt, where I served on a mission in 1967 and where Kaaren and visited again last June, we visited a famous artist enclave of cottages, perhaps somewhat like your friends in Chile. Kaaren was fascinated and inspired by all the art, mostly with an artist whose name I can't remember, who was a personal friend of Picasso and whose ceramic "pottery" looks like Picasso in three dimensions. It is wonderful stuff.

I'm late responding to your email because I've come through the most impacted couple of weeks I can remember. I had a number of time critical projects at the office, rehearsals Thursday night for the West Linn Community Chorus which I direct, I'm Activitees Committee Chairman for our local LDS ward with planning meetings going on at my house Wedbnesday in the evening, we just closed (Monday) the sale of a property we have fixed up for investment, then did a tax free exchange and just closed Friday on the purchase of the replacement property including supervising a construction project that had to be completed before close, drove to Seattle Friday for a LDS related symposium (Sunstone Foundation/Magazine) on Saturday where I was one of the speakers (I had been preparing this presentation into the 1 and 2 oclock am times - trying desparately for time to get this together and wondering if I was crazy to accept the invitation to speak). My topic was The Vitality of Mormon Hymns and in addition to my text, I needed to assemble onto one CD lots of examples of bits and pieces of hymns I wanted to play and discuss - including some by my kids and family and other groups - also had Skye and Jared come along to demonstrate and sing a couple of her hymn arrangemens which she does with guitar - you know...youthful, hip arrangements of otherwise old tired hymns that are inspiriting but could be expressed in a modern genre if we only have the courage. The next day (yesterday), our entire family - the ones present here in the Portland area anyway (Me and Kaaren, Clayton, Skye and Jared, Courtney, Bryce) sang at a special musical program - we sang an arangment of "Amazing Grace" with a little gospel rhythm and style (it was soooo fun) and that took a lot of energy. Also helping ysterday with another mens ensemble that rehearsed yesterday, and I rehearsed and played piano for Courtney in a performance she did yesterday, too. Spent Sunday morning in church dueling ("triple-ing?") with Clayton's triplets while he was up front taking part in a special program. Went to bed last night thinking, my word, that was the week that was...

Don't you think we're all too busy? I rented a movie 10 days ago, but of course, it is still sitting in the box. Is your life like this? I'll bet it is. Now when we are nearly 60 and want to LIVE our lives to the fullest and contribute and help and improve it is so hard to say no to people who ask for our experience. How do we balance our lives?

The presentation in Seattle, for example, was exhausting to put together but I loved it and I'm glad I managed to do it. These folks want me to do this again - to speak in Salt Lake City at the national symposium next August and I will probably do it. Ughhh. Incidentally, one of the speakers on the program with me was Margaret Starbird, the author who inspired Dan Brown to write The Davinci Code. Have you read any of her stuff? It is really fascinating. She mentioned that she felt like she was preaching to the choir - the notion of a married Jesus used to be taught among the Mormons a hundred years ago but now doesn't get much air time. After hearing/seeing her presentation about Mary Magdalene, I'm convinced this was the case.

I'm enjoying the colors in the trees. Out my window I have a panoramic view of maples turning all arounda church with a white steeple. It looks like a scene out of Vermont but of course, it also looks like Oregon at one of its best times. I took the plane up for a warm-up today at noon. I haven't had time to do that for many weeks. The land is really beautiful, especially vineyards at this time of year. I treasure my old time hobby; its a perspective that few of get. When we were young I assumed that when I was 60 there would be more and more airplanes and airports, but the opposite has happened. Now when I look at the price of avgas I'm not sure how much flying I'll be doing. I can fly my own plane to Santa Rosa for example for about $380. I can go commercial round trip for much less than that.

Well, enough rambling and jammering. It was nice to hear from you and I hope we keep "talking," even if only annually, for some time to come.

Regards,Tom
THE PIXTON LAW FIRM