At this minute (9:10 a.m., 13 April 2021) grandson Isaiah is boarding a plane in Boise to begin a new life.  He has spent the past six weeks in our home doing an at-home, on-line mission training due to COVID-19 restrictions.  He is departing on his mission.  He is launching out into the world to begin two years of service to the Lord and to his fellow men.  In the process he will become a man.  He will learn about his capabilities.  He will become conversant in a new language.  He will develop a working relationship with the Lord and with the Holy Ghost that will bless the rest of his life.  He will return in two years shining.  He will have new ideas about how he wants to spend the rest of his life.  The rest of his life is now beginning.

Meanwhile his uncle Eli is on a honeymoon with his new wife, Allie.  They were sealed in the Rexburg Idaho Temple three days ago.  That was a day for which we had fasted and prayed for years.  Eli had to wait until in the Lord's timing the Lord would be ready to bring Allie into Eli's life.  They are in love, and very happy.  They are perfectly suited for one another.  The rest of their lives is now beginning.

A month ago Heidi took her mother aside and confided that she was pregnant.  An hour later Ivy called to share the same secret with her mother.  Marjorie told her to call Heidi.  Both girls are experiencing morning sickness.  Two new lives are just beginning, and the lives of their mothers and of their families are undergoing change.

In two more days our eldest child is going to be 50 years old.  He has completed half a century of life.  He and his wife have been very happily married for 20 years, and are now poised to send their own firstborn child out into the world.  Their happy nest will begin emptying.  Nathan's second half century is now beginning, and all of their lives will be changing.

Meanwhile our eldest daughter has already been emptying her own nest.  She has exported six of her eight children out into the world.  Their leaving was both sad and exciting.  As each left, lives changed.  Three daughters have since married, and the fourth has her wedding date set for June.  Katie is now twice a grandmother, relishes her new position in life, and is kept busy teaching and mothering the two boys left at home, counseling and friendshipping her adult children, and grandmothering her grandchildren.

In the sealing room at the temple last Saturday Marjorie and I perhaps reached the capstone of our earthly existence.  My lifelong dream has been to be in that sealing room with all of our children.  They were all there.  They were all temple worthy.  All 10 of them.  I feel like I've arrived.

And yet the rest of my life is just beginning.  I'm 74 years old.  I still work hard, but I'm slower.  My stamina is less, and I can't run.  I have fulfilled a hundred callings, and now have my last one.  I will receive no more.  Patriarch is a lifetime calling.  I'll only be placed on non-functioning status when I can no longer function, or when I die.  Twice in the past COVID-19 year I have been forced to be inactive in my calling as my file leaders put the giving of patriarchal blessings on hold.  I gave my 55th on 12 March 2020, and was then told to desist.  Things opened back up enabling me to do 12 more between August and 22 November.  I haven't been allowed to give any blessings since then.

I received my first COVID-19 shot a month ago, and the second is scheduled for this week.  I am giving a blessing this evening to a young man who can't submit his missionary application until he has received his patriarchal blessing.  I am back in business, and it feels wonderful.  I am fasting in preparation.  My instructions say that it is not necessary for me to fast before each patriarchal blessing, but so far I haven't had the courage to not be fasting.  I am excited.  The rest of my life is just beginning.

In a few short years the rest of my eternal life will be just beginning.  I look forward to that future with great anticipation.