The Tangrens

I got home from an trip back east for the Hill Comorah pageant with my sister Nikki and her family and found this

From a young man who I asked to water my plants while I was gone.

It was a trip I almost didn't go on. When I got to the airport I almost missed my flight and then when I got on the plane the overhead bin where I put my things wouldn't close. Then there was something wrong with the plane so we had to all get off and get on a new flight so our take off was delayed. I would miss my connecting flight so I was sent to Ohio instead of Michigan where my sister and her family would pick me up there on the way to New York by way of a Six Flags amusement park in Ohio. While I waited for my flight I considered just going home and not going. Just kept feeling I should stay in Utah.

While on the vacation my thoughts frequently turned to a young man I had recently gone to Timp caves with. I had pictures from that trip at the end of June with me and even though I'd had a crush on someone else that was there I found myself looking longer than I thought I would at Derek Tangren, the young man who I asked to water my plants for me when I was gone. I ended up picking up a leaf from the Sacred Grove to bring back to him and a pamphlet in German that they had at one of the sites because I knew he spoke German.

A bunch of us had gone up to Timpanogos caves together. Derek being one of them. The hike up to Timp caves is a long winding and tiring.

Along the way I stopped to rest and although most of the group was on ahead of me, Derek stopped to wait with me and talk. At the time I thought it was just him being nice. In retrospect it was probably more interest than simply being nice. Regardless of intent it made an impact on me. It further made an impact to come home to fresh flowers on my dresser ( complete with hand made card) , burned out lights replaced in my bathroom and a full container of bleach ( we'd been running low ) in our laundry cupboard.

I was more excited than I thought I would be to see him when I got home.