I love this show.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way !
O sisters let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
O sisters let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way !
why, look. I'm in Utah writing in my journal again.
How neat.
Last night I dreamed that I was going to go on a date with a boy I had a crush on in second grade. His name is Robert. When I knew him he was rather short with dark messy hair and buck teeth. I was going to see him for the first time in twelve years. But I missed the bus that was going to his house. I just stood at the curb without any feelings of disappointment. I walked home feeling bored.
I've spent the past five days with my family. Sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents. We played human fooseball and ate homemade ice cream. Heidi and I traipsed through a mile of muddy bogwater and I drew ragged sketches of my cousins playing guitar together. We played Crazy Rook and spent hours in the kitchen chopping and stirring and rinsing and slicing. We played sardines and hid in a concrete tomb stacked high with firewood. I was sticky from sap and smelled like pine for two days. I learned how to play pool and made a life chain with Sarah and Rachel to rescue a volleyball lost down a ravine. I made fruit-loop necklaces with my little cousins and they drew portraits in my sketchbook. We sat in a circle and listened to each other tell stories about weird dreams and pranks to pull with live ducks. We looked at old pictures and had a testimony meeting. We hiked around a shallow pond and ate edamame from green tupperware. My dad told me stories about his mother growing up in Germany and Sarah figured out You Are My Sunshine on her guitar. I watched three hours of Invader Zim and ate warm homemade bread. We made hemp jewelry and played volleyball until dark. I learned all the names of my cousins. I got a sunburn as I read Anthony Bourdain on the edge of the forest behind my grandparents' house. Heidi and I crossed an icy creek and found a maggot on a river rock. His skin was silvery and transluscent and you could see his organs squish around against each other as he stretched himself to move. I made a giant bowl of pasta salad with fresh home-grown basil.
We re-une-d quite a bit.
From what I hear we are going to Salt Lake today. I was there a few nights ago and met up with Rachel Swan. I had chai and jasmine teas and listened to party music in the car. We had to use flashlights to get all her stuff from her room because a fuse had blown and we almost didn't make it back to Grandma's after getting lost on the mountain for an hour. I don't know anything about anything in Utah. Rachel put up with me.
We are going to temple square and then to visit the Conleys. We are also going to visit Dad's sister, Marian. I'm excited - Sarah and Briton are rad cousins. When we visited them in California it was like having another sister and a little brother. I know I shouldn't say it, but I do wish I had a brother. I always have. I wouldn't trade any of my sisters, well, maybe Heidi, but I still wish I had a brother. I try to find them where I can.
School is starting soon. I've moved my boxes into the room above the garage in my house. I'll be there as soon as the other girls move out. I had a chance to walk around the backyard and the deck. It's bigger than I remembered. There are apple trees and rosebushes - a spot for a garden and a little storage shed in the back. I wish you could come and see it.
I miss you.
O mothers let's go down,
Let's go down, don't you want to go down,
Come on mothers let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way !
O sinners let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
O sinners let's go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way !