Memories of Ben

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Ben and I are so different that we didn’t find real common ground until he was in college. Don’t get me wrong, Ben and I were always close, and he was perhaps my least problematic child, but we had little common ground. He loves sports so much so that it dominated his life before his mission. I had no use for sports. The very first time I watched a football game was when Ben played his first game in high school. Meanwhile, I loved science, but when I talked science to Ben, his eyes would start to glaze over.

I had rental property in Pensacola, FL and in 2004, hurricane Ivan made a direct hit and my property suffered badly. Ben had a mission call for the spring of 2005 so for the month of January, Ben and I flew to Pensacola and fixed up the house.

While the work was not fun, working side by side with my son was one of the happiest times of my life. It was there that we found our common ground.

Ben and I love to build things. Whether it is building a garden, building a company or building a house, it doesn’t really matter, Ben loves to build it.

For nearly a month we would get up early, work until late, and then go out and eat a meal together and we talked the entire time. Our discussions mostly included girls, sports, music and his mission but I find those things interesting as well.

He was also very involved in the repairs we were making to the house offering lots of suggestions and ideas. Thank you, Ben, for turning what could have been a miserable month into one of my happiest memories.

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Virtually all of the worlds drylands are shrinking and turning green due to the increase in atmospheric CO2.

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