I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the time, here in the U.S., the church’s program for boys was the Boy Scouts of America. I enjoyed my time as a scout. I learned valuable lessons – lessons that jived well with what I was taught at home, at school, and at church. I learned the value of being a good citizen. I learned about respecting leaders, helping others, and working together.

Everything I learned as a scout, as a member of the church, and in school encourages me to follow the health guidelines laid out by thoughtful doctors and scientists. So, I’m wearing masks when I go grocery shopping. I do my best to maintain distance from others outside my household. And I’m doing what I can to assist those who have been hurt economically and medically by this pandemic.

Are there alternate viewpoints out there? Yes. But the advice from compotent health professionals is to wear them.

Have the recommendations changed? Yes, because each day we learn more.

We will get through this pandemic better if we are more like a boy scout: loyal, obedient, and clean. If there is conflicting government guidance, I would suggest following the most recent and most local guidance. And remember when discussing these things to be friendly, courteous, and kind.

My mom. She grew up in the sixties and seventies. She came out of that time with both a rock-solid conviction of God and a strong desire to find truth. I’m grateful she shared both with us.

A few years ago, Alisha and I watched a French rom-com about two incredibly socially awkward people who fall in love. We fell in love with the film. Imagine What About Bob, except Bob is French, makes chocolate, and finds someone as scared of everything as him.

The scene I remember remembered best is when they go on their first date. At the prodding of his therapist, the man asks the woman out to dinner. The man is so nervous that he keeps stepping into the bathroom to change his soaked-in-sweat shirt. And he brought several extras along. Eventually he gets so flustered he puts on the wrong shirt, goes out to his date, realizes and is so embarrassed that he jumps out the bathroom window and leaves her at the restaurant.

We rewatched it tonight, hoping it lived up to our memory. It did. It also made us crave some high quality chocolate.

Two questions:

1. What foreign films do you love?
2. Best chocolate out there?

Could I our bond immortalize in rhyme?
Although I spend my effort and my might,
words fail to hold a decade worth of time.
To cease to strive though, that would not be right.