Time passes and people change. It’s a fact of life. Some times we grow taller. Some times we grow wider. Some times we grow stronger. Some times we grow weaker. Some times the changes are physical, some times mental, some times emotional, some times spiritual. But we are always changing.

There are times when I look at my life, and just looking from one day to the next I can’t see any difference at all, either for good or bad. It is like watching the sunset. From one minute to the next it is real hard to see how dark it is becoming. But when you compare larger amounts of time, from one hour to the next, or compare the darkness of an ending sunset to the brightness inside, you can really see a difference. We need that contrast and that bigger perspective often to see the changes within us.

I see change in the people all around me too. Often I think that is easier. In my ward we have a lot of little children. It is very easy to see how time passes as you watch them learn to sit up or crawl or walk. It often feels like they were just born yesterday, and there they are running all over the place. It’s nice to have that reminder that, yes, time is still moving forward.

And then I see some of the people I know and the changes that are happening in their lives, more internal changes than anything else, and I wonder if they can see what is happening. I wonder if they realize how different they are now from how they used to be. I wonder if they are concsiously moving their life in that direction or if it is silently slipping away from them. How much change do we have to go through before we notice what is happening?

The squealing, smoke, and broken belt of yesterday were caused by the alternator that was put in on Friday. It was a bad alternator. But it was still under warranty – being only 4 days old. So now I have a good alternator.

The End (it better be)

Yesterday my car started making this awful awful noise. So I took it back to the mechanic. He listened to it and said he was 90% sure it was the water pump. The part would be $100, and then four hours of labor, so about $500. I couldn’t believe it. I only paid $1000 for the car! And here I was spending that much more in one weekend to fix it.
He called me tonight to tell me to come get it, and he said he had good news. It wasn’t the water pump. It was the plastic cover over the pump that had warped. They fixed it for half the original estimate.

I drove it away from the mechanic, and the charge battery light was on, which I know is stupid because the alternator was fixed Friday and the battery is fine. About five blocks from the mechanic the engine started to squeal. Two blocks later the engine started to smoke. So I pulled over and called the mechanic. He came and found me, looked at it, and found a broken belt. He also said it didn’t look like the alternator or the pump was doing what they were supposed to, but the alternator is under warranty. So he’s going to fix it tomorrow and it should be ready by noon.

Everyone cross your fingers this is the last of my car troubles. I need this car to last at least until this summer. I’m glad I have a mechanic I can trust. I just wish I didn’t need to see him so often.