Enjoy the journey............The Playroom

The Playroom………….the RED room……………the Only room…..


Here is a picture of the “Playroom”. Scary isn’t it? But is this the before….or the after?





In this case, it is the “Before” picture. Generally, the kids are really good at cleaning this room and having their kids clean up before they leave, but some nights, it is all they can do to just get the kids out the door. So this room, called the "RED" room because of the red carpet, has looked like this for about two weeks. [It‘s OK, I just shut the door.] But I knew if I did not get it cleaned so they could start from scratch, I might not be able to “close” the door after dinner today. So as I am cleaning, I am reflecting on this room and the “much love” it has seen. If only rooms could talk. There was a time when this room was the only bedroom the kids had to sleep in. Before we built on to the house, all five kids slept in this room. Robin and Holly in the bunks, Mac and Nikki on a mattress on the floor, and Carly in a Port-a crib. Later they graduated to two sets of bunks one regular size bunk with a trundle, and one crib mattress size bunk [specially made].



As I am in there reflecting, I look around and can not believe that many beds ever fit in this room. Back then the room was cute with pink checkered wall paper and the wood work was trimmed in green. The walls were made of plaster and were cold. The kids all had to bundle up to stay warm. They were hard times financially, but happy times as well. As I pick up the “little” people, it brings back memories of former “Fisher Price” days, of days when my own children played for hours with these toys. They used to make a whole town out of those Fisher Price toys with two houses, school, an airport, garage, mini mart, etc. As I pick up a block or two, it reminds of the year Doug made all the blocks, and I painted them and the hours and hours of enjoyment my children have gotten from stacking them up to see how high they could get them before they fell. I spy a care bear, the new kind, but none the less a “care bear’ and it reminds me of Nikki and her Care bear collection and how she treasured it and still has it somewhere. As I carefully put the doll clothes and dolls [some porcelain]back in the toy box, I think of Carly and her Porcelain doll collection. The ones in the toy box now were donated by Priscila I think. Many are missing arms or legs as the grandchildren play with them and like to pull off their legs [go figure]. The Mandy doll clothes remind me of Holly who has passed hers on to Analyn who enjoys styling Holly’s Mandy doll’s hair. The Barbie’s also remind me of Carly as she was the “Barbie” girl in the family. She still keeps her Barbie’s in her cedar chest saving them for Farrah someday. I hope she saves them past the “let’s see how many Barbie heads we can pull off” stage. [Another thing the grand kids do I can not figure out…all the Barbie’s have short necks now from having their heads pulled off and put back on.] And then there are the matchbox cars and track that the Christian and Luke like to play with now, they remind me of Mac. [I have the track but none of the original cars as Mac donated them to charity when in High School] As I put the final touches on the Toy Box, I pick up the doll that I had handmade for Robin by some lady. Hope Naylor’s mom had one made for Hope. I look at it and laugh, because Robin was never really attached to it and I know why……that really is an “Ugly doll”. It was like a step down from a Raggedy Ann doll. As I pick up the play clothes, I run across my muu muu from Hawaii, my Otyokwa dress from College, my mother’s wigs, and all of these “old lady” hats I got from the DI. And it makes me smile of an earlier time:



Then I find a little white knit dress that is really a doll dress, but that Lili loves to wear for “dress-up” and I hold it a little closer, shut my eyes, and I can see Lili dancing around in it with the white hat she loved to put on and I am missing her………………
When my children were little, I could not wait for them to grow up. I am task oriented so everything was a task. We had fun times, but I was always looking to the next horizon when they would walk, or be potty trained, or go to school...... and here I am sitting in their bedroom cleaning up their children’s messes and I am missing the “yesterdays”. I listen to see if I can hear the voices of their youth, but all I hear is the “Spoken Word” from the room beyond. But the TB choir is singing about love, and family, and it is perfect for my mood. Last week in Relief Society I gave a lesson on “Leaving your imprint on someone’s Heart”. This is what my children have done for me, and what my grandchildren keep doing for me….leaving an imprint on my heart everyday they enter my life. Please, please, my advice to my children, and to all of you who read this, do as President Monson asked us to do today and “Enjoy the Journey” for " If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays… "

The room is clean now……………………………………………..



The wall paper is gone. The walls need repair. If you look close you can see where the dart board used to be as there are holes in the plaster all around a distinct circle. It is now the place we hang old family pictures that we don’t know what else to do with. It is quiet now, but I would much prefer it being full of laughter, and the sound of children playing school, or house, or cars, or Barbie’s, or anything but the sound of quiet………..but sometimes just sometimes, "quiet" is good too.





Before or the after?……………………….both are pretty great!!