I did something I've never done before today: I listened to General Conference on the go. While driving the hour to visit Jeff at the latest track meet, I listened to the first half of the first session of General Conference in the car. I streamed conference to my phone via BYU radio, with the sound magically piped to the car's speakers via bluetooth. It was amazing! As Jeff likes to say, I love living in the future! I was conflicted about whether or not to go to the track meet this weekend because it was General Conference and our attendance at the high school track meets is unnecessary and completely voluntary. But I really wanted to go on a run today, so I drove the kids to the track meet, left them with Jeff at the track, and went on a pleasant four mile jog alone along the Columbia River.
When I started running, I figured that an hour of the Saturday session was much better than nothing. About a mile into my run, I realized that I could still listen to conference! So I pulled out my phone (which I have started running with for safety reasons), turned on the BYU radio, turned up the volume on my phone (since I didn't think to bring headphones), and just like that I listened to general conference live while I ran! I had only missed 20 minutes of the morning session! In order to get the phone speaker as close to my ear as possible without holding the phone while running, I turned my running belt to the front and slipped the phone into the pocket, speaker pointing out. With the volume cranked up, I could hear the talks quite well through the pocket, especially once I turned out of the hefty head wind. Thankfully I found a route with very few cars passing so my listening was relatively uninterrupted.
The sound of church leaders' voices coming out of my waist pack was quite amusing. I found myself playing around with the expression "joined at the hip" in reference to myself and the gospel. That is an admirable aspiration, to be joined at the hip with the words of the prophets!
Later, when I was watching the kids play at the park, I listened to the afternoon session of conference on low volume with my phone to my ear. It looked like I was on a very long one-sided phone call, and at one point Jay asked me why I was on the phone for so long. I replied that I was not on the phone, I was listening to general conference. Then I joked, "But listening to it like this is basically like being on the phone with the prophet!" Jay grinned appreciatively/dutifully. Every now and then I had to put my phone in my pocket and dash after Amber or help someone or kiss an injury, but I managed to listen to an impressive amount of the session in the chaotic atmosphere of the playground.
After over an hour on the playground, I herded the kids over to the Columbia River, still listening to conference with my phone to my ear. The kids happily threw rocks in the water and dug in the rough sand for a while, then took of their shoes and started wading in the frigid shallows. Since we were alone and our section of shoreline was quiet, I turned the volume up a bit and put my phone in the interior chest pocket of my jacket to listen to the last 45 minutes of conference hands-free. It was very peaceful down by the water, with words of wisdom drifting out of my pocket. I realized that whereas during my run I was "joined at the hip" with the gospel, now I had the words on my heart. I hope to keep them there always.
As I listened to the phone speaker positioned over my heart, the various symbols of the heart in regards to the gospel came to mind: write the words of God on my heart, listen to them with my heart, treasure them in my heart, speak them from my heart. The whole experience was an effective blend of physical and spiritual symbolism, and I felt very immersed in all of it. Many of the impressions I had don't translate well to words. It felt big and important and moving and beautiful to be outside, getting exercise, visiting Jeff, and spending hours at the park with my kids while partaking of a significant spiritual feast.
Amber would not take her eyes off of the rocks, sticks, and sand, so when I was about to say "say cheese!" instead I said "say... Amber, look at the camera!" Of course Jay and Rose repeated that phrase over and over while Rose muscled Amber's face into view.
(Rewind to the track meet) Coaching and parenting all at once: Jeff has it down!
They were SO COLD at the track meet...
...then it was shoes off and game on once we arrived at the frigid snow melt Columbia River!
Cold cold cold water.
"I'm making circles!"
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