Life Gave Me Lemonade: "One, Two, Three" Ostler

Several weeks ago I ran into a good a friend of mine whom I knew before my mission. He lives in Sugar City, which is Rexburg’s next-door neighbor, so his family is close by (that information is important in a few sentences). After some chitchat the subject turned to our social life. Dispite his family being close by, I thought he would still hang out with a lot of his friends. But he surprised me. “You know,” he said, “I don’t really hang out with anyone.”

Wait what? But you’re soooo likable and friendly! Why not?

“I usually just go over to my cousin’s apartment, or hang out with my brother when he comes into town,” he continued, “And I’m okay with that.” He wasn’t ashamed of being with family more than friends, in fact he preferred it.

To tell you the truth I only kind of understood why he preferred family to friends. I soon came to realize what he meant though.

That weekend I left on a jet plane from Rexburg to Tri-Cities, not realizing how hard it was going to be for me to come back again.

At the airport my family greeted me, including Jackson. I could not only see his big smile, but I felt it in my heart. It had been a little over two years since we had said good-bye. Our means of communication had been e-mails. His Spanglish, misspelled words often strengthened me on my mission, especially in those times when I was going through a refiners fire. It was a Celestial reunion as Jackson and I joined in an RM hug (don’t ask me what that is, I made it up).

The minute our family got in the car to go home the fun began!

(Side Note: Two of my dad’s brothers and their families came to Tri-Cities that weekend. It was a mini-Ostler Reunion. So we had a house FULL of Ostlers!)

As Jackson finished family prayer in Spanish our first night together I instinctively put my hand in the middle of the circle (a tradition that was started by one of my roommates) and told everyone to follow suit. There were eighteen Ostler hand’s stacked on top of one another, like a lopsided card tower that was about to fall over. “On the count of three we’re all going to say ‘Ostler,’” I said, “One, two, three,”

“OSTLER!”

Jackson playing Bonce Ball

Benson about to score a point...I think

That weekend the girls were to be found on the balcony watching the boys run themselves into the ground playing soccer and Bonce Ball. I could feel the loving competition as Tyler and Ben (both soccer players) faced each other in a battle over the ball (they really wanted to kill each other), and the slight annoyance from everyone else when Wilson, for the second time in one game, lay in a curled up ball on the ground, acting as if he was going to die because an evil someone had hit him with the ball.

As the weekend rolled lazily on I found odd pleasure in my brothers annoying me, and great laughter in watching Grandpa lay down next to Grandma’s grave and announce, “This is where I’m going to be buried!” Oh Gramps! I felt peace and awe as Uncle Lee and Grandpa told us about memories of Grandma and how she was a woman of strength, courage, and faith. She raised seven children, and made sure her boys received their Eagles and served faithful missions, as well as help all of her children gain testimonies that led to temple marriages.

In the Celestial Room in the Columbia River Temple I tasted just a little bit of the joy that will be felt in the eternities, when those who were endowed gathered together in quiet and reverent laughter as we enjoyed each other’s love.

The Ostler crowd isn’t your normal family (although someone define for me what a normal family is, PLEASE!). In our family it’s not uncommon for my nineteen year-old cousin to be telling me how good looking he is, my uncles to be wrestling on the floor like fourteen year old boys, the teenage boys shaking their hips like girls to 80’s music, and for all of us to be teasing each other until the sun comes up…that’s when we all go to bed.

How grateful I am that I am sealed to my family for eternity. I never ever have to wonder if I will see them again. For eternity I can enjoy their laughter, their teasing, and all the pleasantly awkward moments that arise at the dinner table and elsewhere.

I now realized why my friend loves to be with his family. There is such joy that comes from being with those you will be with forever. No family is perfect, nor is it meant to be in this life. But with our families we are meant to have joy. That is the truth my friend knew, and I discovered.

The day we visited our grandmother’s grave we all put our hands above her headstone.

“One, Two, Three”

“OSTLER!”