11 Sep 2023, Monday

11 Sep 2023, Monday

Prioritized Daily Task

9:00 AM - Debbie's appointment with Joshua Burkhardt, DO | Allergy & Immunology Specialist

Personal prayer, Nick Traveller showered in our shower, and when he left for St. George to play in a golf tournament, Debbie and I had prayer together.  She cooked breakfast; Bojana came up from downstairs.  She talked to her mother.  She and Mirko had arrived home.  Mirko had walked down to the store to get some milk.  Debbie went to see Dr. Burkhardt.  I worked on getting information on our income for 2023 to Matt McCleary, CPA to do estimated taxes.   I texted Alex and she called me when she got up.  I told her I would take her to the airport.  She still hasn't got a ticket to fly home.  She, Jake, and his dad climbed up to Glacier Lake on Mt. Timpanogas last week and may be going water skiing today.  Debbie got back from seeing the allergy doctor and she has no allergies except maybe for some types of food but nothing that would be causing her to cough.  I received an invoice from Eric Fisher, Attorney, and sent a check for $4,556.39.  I called and talked to Dan Truitt about the conservation I had with Beth last night.  She has not talked to him.  Debbie took Bojana to SLC to have lunch with a friend of hers from when she lived in Salt Lake in the 1990s.  Matthew called and is coming up to visit Oct.4-8.  I called Chase and canceled my United Airlines Charge Card.  Debbie and Bojana got back from SLC and went to Clara Gourley's softball games.  I worked on getting caught up on things from the last few weeks.  When Debbie and Bojana got home we ate dinner, had prayer, and planned tomorrow.  Debbie and I had prayer before going to bed.

Note from Debbie: At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favorite doll.  She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.  Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.

The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying “Please don’t cry.  I took a trip to see the world.  I will write to you about my adventures.”

Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka’s life.  During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.

Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.  “It Doesn’t look like my doll at all,” said the girl.  Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: “My travels have changed me.”  The little girl hugged the new doll and brought the doll with her to her happy home. 

A year later Kafka died.  Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. On the tiny letter signed by Kafka, it was written:  “everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way.”

Embrace change.  It’s inevitable for growth.  Together we can shift pain into wonder and love, but it is up to us to consciously and intentionally create that connection