My perfect family.

So now that I've gathered all the memories(explanation here)I have been in sentimental heaven. I laid all the pictures on the coffee table and sorted them into piles. I read every letter and card, looked at every news clipping, and basked in my love for my family.  I have such fond memories of these people and cherish the time we've had together.

The thing about great families, and great anything for that matter, is that they are not without some not great parts. There were some not great hurtful words, some not great disobedience to parents, some not great losing of tempers, some not great selfishness, some not great lack of forgiveness, some not great pridefulness in our home. But God puts us in families so we can practice overcoming these weakness with people who won't leave us. Brothers and sisters don't quit each other. We tell each other to stop being annoying, say we're sorry and move on. And then we see what is great. Remember making up dance routines? Remember riding our bikes to town? Remember watching old movies? Remember building tent cities out of sheets? Remember playing kick ball in the yard?  Remember sleeping on the trampoline? Remember how funny, smart, kind, talented, good, athletic, beautiful, clever, and musical you are? Remember how I'll always love you?

Parents are wonderful not because they handle each situation perfectly, but because they give their all to help their children become the best, happiest people they can be. I happened to be blessed with very dedicated parents. The only thing more important than our family was God. Sometimes we gave them a run for their money. What could have prepared them for all that we presented them with?  Did they know they'd see illness, heartache, rebellion...? They never thought of turning back or bailing out. They kept feeding us and loving us and caring for us and giving us what they thought would benefit us the most. Sometimes that looked like withholding.

We didn't go on elaborate vacations. We visited relatives, camped and fished a bit,  and went to Disneyland, which with 10 kids is amazing.

 But we did build a kayak out of canvas, painted it and floated it on the canal. When we added on to the house and the slab was poured, we spent family night painting it with our names, messages, checkerboard, hopscotch, etc. and anticipated with glee the time capsule we were creating. We put on programs and rode the donkey and climbed the rafters in the barn. We had fancy New Year's Eve dinner and a Christmas full of tradition. We went fishing and crawdadding. We went on hayrides and had barn dances.We spent the summers doing chores and laying around so bored that we ended up reading and making up games and dressing up in costumes. We took piano lessons and practiced cheerleading or catching a football on the lawn.

 And we knew what our parents believed. We knew that they knew that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and we read from it every day. We knew that they wanted to serve God because we went to church every week and they dedicated their time and talents to strengthen the church in our area. We knew that they wanted to help their fellow man and we knew that honesty is important. And we knew where to find them. If they weren't at church they were home. Dad was in the garden or working on an art project. He welcomed company and was always available to talk, although he sometimes would give us a job which helped with crowd control.  Mom was taking care of the baby or learning to play the piano or listening to Barry Manilow and Englebert Humperdink, or just around where we needed her. And they loved us.

When I look back on my childhood I see a lot of important things that happened that have been a great gift to me. And I consider myself very blessed to have the family I do. Every single person in my family is human and perfect for me. And I want to be with them forever.

Bronco Country II

My friend, Rhonda, and I started the heirloom saving job in the afternoon. My brilliant sister had purchased contractor strength garbage bags the week before and left them for me. The task at hand was to locate and identify items that only a Miller would love, items that could be auctioned off and items that had served their purpose and would now meet their doom. There were a lot of the latter. I had to make some hard decisions and made good progress filling the bags. Then I would come across a heart-stopper.

My mother made this little puppet for her kindergarten class.
When she had us, she used it to tell us special stories. Very magical.

My Dad wore these wooden shoes around the house for years.
I remember him clomp, clomping as he played "Oh Susanna"
on the harmonica to call us to family scripture study every morning.

We laughed and worked until it wasn't fun anymore. Then Rhonda and her husband, Bill, took me to the world famous "Firebaugh Restaurant" for dinner. At our house, every Friday was date night for Mom and Dad (beginning at about noon). Tuesday night was date night for Dad and a kid. We couldn't wait for our turn to go to this most delicious of Mexican Restaurants. Years after that, Dad would visit us in various places in the US where we would try and take him to eat Mexican food. He was never satisfied  as nothing could compare to this beloved place.

Still in business 40 years later.

Even the interior is the same

#2 baby

And as an added treat we ran into Shelly and Ronald Wood and their son, Susan and Chip Moore, and Tim Orlando. I hadn't seen them since high school. I had actually never met Tim, but he told me a funny story about my brother. Tim had been his baseball coach. My brother had walked on his hands around the diamond, stood up and said, "Hi. I'm Charlie."

Susan Gamboni and Shelly Cotta

The next day was all business.  Rhonda went to Home Depot and brought me all the packing supplies I could ever want and a sandwich. I sorted from morning til afternoon and saved all the memories that I could. Then I stopped to go to dinner with my brother Sam.  I have to share an interesting little miracle.

Of course there was this on hwy 59.

Rhonda had googled the best restaurants in Atwater where Sam lives.  I wrote the name (Tary Boscolo's) and address down, but did not have my GPS because only one of my suitcases made it to Fresno, the empty one. When I picked Sam up, his landlady suggested a family restaurant by the bank where Sam walks, but he had chosen Denny's in Merced. I followed the road out the way I came, and tried to go back to Merced, but when I got on highway 99 I was going north instead of south. I said, "Lets just drive around Atwater and see what we find." We exited and started driving down the street and came right to Tary Boscolo's. I would have never stopped there had Rhonda not done the research.

Sam and I had a nice dinner. It was fun to see where he lives and look at his scrapbooks and pictures and have him tell me stories and rap.

He showed me this letter he had saved from childhood.
Blessing on the head of this friend.

The next morning I boxed everything up that I could, loaded up Rhonda's truck and went to the post office that hadn't changed at all in 35 years, and it was old then. And then I said goodbye to Bronco country.

The little house our family rented when we first got to town.

Bronco Stadium. "It's blue we're fighting for. It's gold that's
gonna raise that score!"

Aqua center. I could go swimming any time I wanted as long
as I would ride my bike and survive the dogs. I jumped off the high dive for the first
time here.

High School tennis court where I played a lot of mediocre tennis.

DPHS

Senior Patio

If you needed something to eat during school, Don's was
the place. Can I recommend a cherry teem?
(right across the street)

If you needed a little something after school. Or if you wanted
to see who was in town, drag main and circle around Butch's.
And FYI, that's an ice cream cone not a cowboy hat.
It took me a few years to figure that out.

Johnnie's cleaners. Thanks for not changing.

My Dad's office. Well, actually Dr. Schofield's office, but it
was my dad's office. All of his kids worked there.

The hospital 

Pioneer Drug which used to be Moore Drug. My first
job not working for my dad.

The post office. Just like old times except for the whipper snappers
working behind the counter using the internet. That's just not right.

This is a canal. It's official use is irrigation.
There have been reported incidents of swimming, (not sanitary)
fishing (great for catfish and crawdads), and
 water skiing. All you need is a friend with a truck and a rope.

Going to Fresno the back way. Y'all better know your roads
and avenues because this is all the help you get.