Service

One of the things that I found the most attractive in John before we were married was the fact that he was always willing to help anyone in need. In fact, in the beginning it was a bit shocking to discover that John would stop for anyone pulled over on the side of the road even when we had a date planned, or were actually in route to a movie that started in like...five minutes. The biggest shock was the first time he pulled over and there was no car in sight. He told me that he would be right back--he needed to go scoop a dead animal off the road.

Wait, what?

Yes, John has always felt bad for the little animal bodies that get driven over and smashed to smithereens. He always wonders too why people who hit the animals don't stop and go back and move their bodies off the road. For me, there are just too many things wrong with that whole scenario to even try and answer him, so I just take a deep breath and wait in the car.

Through the years, the kids have seen John do these things too. My kids don't have any problem jumping out of the car with John when something is wrong. Just ask Ethan, Johannah and Glo about the time that John came upon an accident and tried to revive a person. Glo knows how to search for a stick in the brush to push the animal off the road. My boys help people carry stuff out of the church.

I am so thankful for John's example through the years.

This past Labor Day, our ward was having a picnic. John got up early that morning to go out and run his 12 miles (or was it 16? I don't remember). As the kids and I were headed to the picnic, John called and said that he would be there soon--he just needed to go home and take a shower. I reminded him that the food doesn't last long which I knew would be a HUGE incentive for him to move even more quickly :-)

Two and a half hours later, John showed up at the picnic. I had tried to call him to find out where he was, but there had been no answer on his phone. The Ultimate Frisbee game was over, the food was mostly gone and pretty much everybody had left. As he walked up to me, smiling, he said, "You're not gonna believe what I've been doing."

Turns out, on his way home, he had noticed an old woman down our road sealing her driveway. He had the thought that he should stop, but he really wanted to get to the picnic, so he kept driving. He got home, showered, got dressed and left. On his way to the picnic, he saw her again and couldn't drive by this time. He got out and asked her if she needed help. She was wearing a bonnet tied with a ribbon around her chin, and John said she must have been 80-years-old. She handed the entire bucket of sealant over to him and walked in the door.

John spent a good two hours, sealing her entire driveway by himself. Having just run a half-marathon, he had been looking forward to lots of good sweet food with lots of drink. Not once did she come out and offer him a drink. He just laughed about it all.

Anyway, when he saw the bishop of our ward leaving the picnic, he apologized for not being there and explained the black splatter that covered his hands, feet and legs. John felt so bad that he had missed the game of Ultimate--he had been looking forward to it all week.

There's not much anymore that surprises me about John. When I heard the story, I could picture the whole thing in my mind. I thought that was the end of it.

Turns out, this past Sunday the theme for our sacrament meeting was "service". John wasn't there, but was at some "2nd Sunday" meetings, fulfilling his calling in the stake presidency. The talks were okay, but we were ending about 10 minutes early. Our new bishop stood up to close the meeting, but he decided to share a few thoughts himself about service. He began, "This past week I ran into someone who had wanted to come to the ward picnic, just to play Ultimate, but ended up spending his entire morning doing something else." Since John had arrived at the picnic after most people had left, nobody had any idea of whom the bishop was speaking which is exactly how John would have wanted it.

Thanks, my honey, for being such a perfect example of selfless service.