As I rolled out of my hard college dorm bed for the last morning Friday, I realized that this is it. It all is over today and it is back to reality.
Perhaps that is why we escape to BYU each year for Campus Education Week. With life so busy, it is nice just to slow down for awhile and see where we are and where we want to go. Even with small kids, the sacrifice of coming to BYU each summer has really been a lifesaver for us.
And what a bargain! The whole week only cost $54.00 per person, and there are deals for people who can only come for a day or part of a day. We stay in the dorms for a small cost and the food here is reasonable. The real sacrifice is using those vacation days to come to sunny Provo. Just think, today we heard Steven Covey speak and we all know what it would cost to hear him outside of Education Week. Provo may not be the best vacation spot, but it surely is the best bargin.
In all our years of coming to Education Week we had never experienced what happened Friday. My wife was excited to again hear Sister Sokol. Her moving message yesterday motivatied my wife to return. Just as we settled in, and she began to talk about all the things that make our life crazy, the fire alarm at the Wilkinson Student Center went off. Many of the largest classes at Education Week are located in this building. Over 3,000 people were in classes and maybe another thousand in the Cougareat and bookstore. Somehow everyone got out of the building and returned back to their seats shortly. Sister Sokol could have just given up on her presentation at this point, but light heartedly she joked that this is just one of life's uncertainties. It would be awesome if we all had her outlook on life.
Our mainstay class for the week has turned out to be Kevin Hinckley and Mark Olgetree. We have attended several of their classes as they have taught together and alone. I think by this point at Education Week everyone has a few classes they just cannot miss. Several of their classes hit a home run with us, and we know their message will impact our life for quite some time. I cannot wait to return home, review the notes, and apply the teachings they presented.
We always seem to end our Education Week experience in Scott Anderson's class. His focus on the Savior really reminds us why we are here and more importantly, what we must do to get to our heavenly home safely.
As his class ended I realized that we will scatter again in a hundred directions. For my daughter and me it was a quick trip back to South Jordan so we could attend the Bingham High football game vs. Alta. This is a rematch of last year's state championship game. Like always, I will be taking pictures of the game, greeting students and anticipating our first day of school at Bingham on Monday. My wife is packing the car and returning to our extended family who are watching our younger children. We have been blessed to have great family support us in our yearly pilgrimage to Provo.
We will soon be back in the rut of life, working through our daily problems. The knowledge we obtained at Campus Education Week will only help if we internalize the messages and apply what we learned here. We are not perfect, but maybe we can work on an area or two and come back next year and do it all again!
(Darrell Robinson is from South Jordan, Utah. He has been married for 25 years and is the father of six children ranging from age 19 to 1. He is a professional educator and loves to spend time with his family.)