Uncle Gary and the Trees

In January of this year I spent a few days in Las Vegas with my family.  It was wonderful (minus the throwing up part) and I have thought so much about a certain event that took place.  I decided it needed to be written down so here it is.

My family has had one Home Teacher for years and years and still to this day, Gary Earl.  Uncle Gary, as I have fondly called him for a long time now, turned out to be a distant cousin on my Mom's side.  He and his wife Diane came faithfully month after month with tales of wonderful things that all held a gospel message.  Aunt Diane can turn anything into an object lesson, which is where I'm certain I got that talent, and Uncle Gary is a spiritual GIANT!

Now back to Vegas...That Sunday the Home Teachers were to come over.  I looked forward to it with much anticipation.  It was like I was a kid again feeling the excitement of seeing the Earls.  It was always a special time each month when they would come to Home Teach.  Sure enough they came and gave a wonderful lesson as always.  We visited and they wanted to know all about Emma who was with me and Brent who wasn't.  Right before they were to leave I got the impression that I needed to ask Uncle Gary about a memory.  

.....Years ago a man in our Stake named Terry Marshall passed away.  He was someone who had made a huge impression on me in my teens and so I wrote a poem about him and gave it to the family.  They in turn printed that poem on the back of the funeral program.  Well the day of the funeral I was there early with my Dad helping him get video feed set up throughout the church (that was one of Dad's callings at the time).  Uncle Gary was Stake President at that time and as always our home teacher. He saw me and invited me to sit for a minute.  He was conducting the funeral and had seen my poem on the back.  We talked about the words I had chosen and then we got on the subject of trees.  I wish I could remember the reasons why but we talked about the symbolism of trees then we went on our way.  

For years I have thought about that talk we shared and thought about trees.  I have zeroed in to  anything about trees and have filed those facts away in my memory.  I guess more than anything the opportunity to sit one on one with one of my favorite people was what ultimately linked the love of trees in my mind. 

Well like I said, back to Las Vegas...I got the impression that I needed to ask Uncle Gary about that memory.  Still a little bit of hero worship even as an adult was present and so it made me a little nervous to ask.  Though he didn't remember exactly the poem or the conversation, he did remember the moment.  He asked me to remind him of our conversation.  Something in him clicked and he remembered our tree stories.  He remembered telling me about a tree on the bank of a river and a tree in the middle of the forest.  I reminded him of the walnut being harvested and the effect it had on the tree.  It was a moment for reflecting and that's really all it was but it was special to me.

I think the reason I wanted to write this was to say that Uncle Gary and Aunt Diane will always be my Home Teachers.  No they don't drive to San Diego every month to check on the welfare of my family or to see if there is anything they can do for us but I do feel often of their spiritual messages. I do feel often of their influence watching over us growing up.  I feel of their peace and love and the presence of the Spirit they would bring each month into our home.  One time I got a little teased about name dropping when I talked of President and Sister Earl.  It's probably true, I probably did drop the name to show how much I felt special.