The Mergenthaler Family

Letters from the Nest, November 15, 2024 https://lettersfromthenest.substack.com/p/trying I’m trying. I tried. I will try. Get ready for a bit of cynicism. Do you know what I expect to hear after those phrases? But, when, or if. Qualifiers. Excuses. You know me as a fairly positive person. I mostly assume the best, look on the bright side, and attribute altruistic motives. (You see, I’m not above using qualifiers). But I have a hard time believing the word try. Why do you have to try? Why not just do the thing you set out to do? Are you already feeling a knot in your gut? Are you thinking me callous and unloving? Do you think I don’t see your legitimate reasons for failing to meet expectations? Give me a chance. I’ll come around to a more positive and encouraging perspective, but I want to get this part out first. Here’s what I don’t like about trying : it sounds like you expect to fail or that you believe you already have failed. It’s a way of shifting blame and perpetuating a ...

 I have been taking pictures of brightly colored leaves all over town, including our own yard. Pretty, right? But now I'm distracted by the phrase, "taking pictures." It sounds violent. So, I'm thinking of other ways to say it, "capturing photos?" nope. "Snapping pictures?" nah. "Catching memories," isn't so bad, but it kind of makes me sad to think that whatever I preserve in a picture will never that exact same way again. Well, that's enough deep thinking from me. Back to work.

 Letters From the Nest, October 18, 2024 https://lettersfromthenest.substack.com/p/im-trying-to-see-like-jesus      Fiddlesticks. I can’t remember if I have already written about this thing I’m thinking about today. I guess it’s okay if I write about it more than once. I say the same things repeatedly, don’t I? Might as well write them too. That way, when I’m long gone, and you’re all sitting around telling stories about me because I  know  you will, and somebody gets something wrong, because I  know  you will, one of you can say, “We don’t have to argue about this. She wrote about it right here!”  Disclaimer #1: Just because I write about something doesn’t mean my opinion won’t evolve with time and experience. Disclaimer #2: Just because I write about my core beliefs on acting/reacting/living a certain way doesn’t mean you’ll always observe a perfect replication of the righteous sentiment in my daily behavior. Like you, I get mad, tired, and...

If you asked me when I was a child about my favorite season, I would have answered Fall because of school and my birthday. I was a nerd. I continued to like fall when we moved from California to Wyoming because I thought snowy winters were really neat. You could build forts, go for snowmobile rides, sled. You could gather icicles. My biggest winter challenge was not slipping on the sidewalk as I walked to the seminary building from the high school. I graduated from high school in Wyoming and then spent a couple of years in Siberia (i.e., Rexburg, Idaho) and then Utah. The cold became less glamorous to this California girl. Our move to Washington state brought a different kind of winter weather--not freezing, but gray and rainy with early sunsets. Still, it was alright. And, of course, I still had my birthday. The big change from love to hate happened during our nine years in Iowa. My fond fall feelings declined to disgust and dread. It's not actually pretty in Eastern Iowa in ...

Letters From the Nest, September 20, 2024 https://lettersfromthenest.substack.com/p/dear-dad Dear Dad,      It’s the first anniversary of your death, and I miss you. In some ways, I can’t believe it has already been a year. Didn’t we just have a good time visiting you at the property? Didn’t you just go on a nature walk with Emily and me? We found a huge dead raven. You made it talk. Only yesterday, we were moving scrap metal and cinder blocks together until our bodies ached for a break. And what about that evening barbecue where we laughed at the kids’ silly jokes until our faces hurt? The last time I saw you was at Emily’s wedding. You and Mom rescued me from the wedding dinner because I was so sick with a migraine that I was merely existing in the space rather than enjoying the time with family and friends. Earlier that day, you were grinning at the happy young couple in the sealing room at the temple.      I miss that grin. I miss our random conversatio...

"Pursuing Growth," Letters From the Nest, August 19, 2024 It’s back-to-school season again, so we are all wondering how we’re possibly going to go all the places, learn all the stuff, and do all the things. Our family has one university professor, one seminary teacher, two college students (maybe three or four by winter), one high schooler, one middle schooler, and one elementary school student. Our lives continue to revolve around the school calendar as they have even before we were a family. It’s not so bad; it provides another opportunity to assess personal progress, reevaluate priorities, and set new goals. We naturally do this multiple times a year--New Year’s Day, springtime, the beginning of summer, school, birthdays, milestones, and more. We are pretty good at thinking about what we want, evaluating what we need to do to get there, and setting goals for achievement. What’s on my mind this morning is how, in our goal-setting, maybe it’s okay to expect both failure AND ...

The world keeps turning. We keep working, watching, wondering, praying, growing, changing, slipping, all the -ings. As July turns to August, our attention turns to back-to-school preparation, fall sports and activities, and new living situations for a couple of kids. Ah, apartment life--an experience I do not wish to relive, yet a valuable experience nonetheless. This year, school doesn't start until the last few days of August. It feels like we have been gifted a few more weeks of together time. I want to make the most of this lull between summer sports and fall chaos, but we're already a tad bored. Just a tad. Of course, there are always things to do like reorganize the upstairs closet that has become the summer dump zone when garage cleaning and outdoor chores took priority. But, who wants to tackle a big project when I can do something small and much more enjoyable--update the blog? The second half of our summer has been mostly delightful. Gavin enjoyed baseball so much tha...