Dearest Father

Dearest Father
By Elizabeth Ann Mucci



I found myself standing perfectly still, as if frozen by regret. A warm tear was born to fall rapidly to the earth, releasing me from my unrelenting fear to enter this place of sadness and doubt.
My hand trembled as I reached forward to grab the red doors that's paint was far worn and stripped from the mighty wood that we had both used to build this building.
My Heart began to swell with many emotions as I entered. Cobwebs and dust had accumulated from the many years of neglected care, yet I still found a strange pleasure in the musky smell from the old hay. Must be the young farm boy in me at heart.
Then I saw it. A table in the back corner, baring the weight of many boxes that were packed neatly, left to be forgotten; baring the weight of a boy who died in pursuit of lifting the weight off many who were suffering.
As I walked forward towards the boxes my heart began to beat vigorously within my body. The air became thick and I found myself longing to breathe freely without so much pain, without hate and bitterness.
I gently brushed the dust off the top of the first box, to find his writing in black marker,
"My country I will serve!"
Opening the box I was to find the emblem of our beloved country, neatly folded with precision and care. How could I feel so much hate for something that represents my freedom? All I could think about is how it represented the loss of a piece of me. No legacy to be passed on, no one to carry on the family name. It had all been taken in the name of this beloved country.
Why was I here. I had been avoiding this retched hell of memories for four years. Why now was I compelled to reenter into this place of misery?
I sifted through his things remembering them exactly as I did when I packed them. Lifting a book from the box a small letter slipped from within its pages ready for its words to be heard by him who was intended.


My dearest father,
I wanted to thank you for teaching me how to love, and how to care for others, thus influencing my decision to give back the love you have shown me, to those who are crying out for it. You always taught me to be grateful for the freedoms and privileges I have in my life. Father, I am so incredibly grateful for those freedoms. I am also grateful for the Gospel you made sure I was able to have in my life so that I could better appreciate my agency and the freedoms that I was given in a more spiritual sense. How could I ever give back a sacrifice equivalent to a life that was given so that we may be free and happy and return to our heavenly father again? I know you are unhappy with my decision to join, but Remember my beloved father, I am willing to make this sacrifice knowing that if I succeed, many lives will be saved and they will know true happiness. I couldn't ask for more than to be like my savior, my brother Jesus Christ. I will return to you again. That is the whole plan right?
Be strong for me while I am away. I will see you in no time.
With love,
Jonathan

I didn't bother putting the things I had removed from the box back. I merely held tight to the letter and made my way back out into the light of day. Such peace had overcome my body and I knew that I was free from the demons that had held so tight to my soul for four years. After all the years I had been teaching the lessons, this time I was to be taught, to be called to humility. For just as god sent his only begotten son to save the souls of many, so had I. Yet God still loved all, even though he knew his son suffered. Now I could let go, now I could move on, for He was waiting for me to join him, and I was finally ready to except that wonderful truth.

" I will go before your face...mine angles round about you, to bear you up"

As I type these words, my heart is filled with gratitude. Gratitude for my circumstance of life. I became very ill the past few days, and this is the worst possible time to be sick. I lost my apartment due to debt, both business and personal. I live in my parent's1984 RV with has leaks when it rains.. Having no way of repairing the roof, my father bought us a tarp to cover over the RV until the raining season in California ceases. There is no paved cement on which the RV is parked, so my wife and I either have to go through my parents house, which inside resides a cat that Liz is very allergic to, or to walk in mud and do our best to keep it out of the RV. When its dry and the windows are open, the dust settles all over our tables and clothes, it truly is a chore in itself to keep the RV tidy.

It is the Christmas season, and we both work in retail. We work long and hard hours, and I have become ill. When one of us misses work, we miss a bill to be paid, or food to eat. There has been times where we have sat in our break rooms at work and envied others eating food while our peasant portion wasn't enough to satisfy our hunger. I have contracted a case of Strep Throat, a sickness that I haven't had in years. This is the worst possible time for me to have this sickness because of the work that I will miss.

I felt that all was lost, everyone keeps telling me that" it could be worse", and then it gets worse. I keep telling them "Yes, but it could always be better..." I say that so I will do my best and focus on the positive aspect of my life's, even though I feel that I can count my blessing on my fingers.

As I went to the urgent care, I wondered how would I pay for this. Our cell phones are about to be turned off if I don't pay them and this money now has to go to making me better. I feel so selfish and wished there was another way.

Liz and I got out of our car and Liz reads the name on the door and suddenly gasps "Dr. Robert Rigg JR." I recognized the name, and it reminded me of the slight envy that I have of Taber's career success, and the yearning I wish to give that success to Liz and he has to Becca. I figured that was no relation, and believed it was a foul trick played upon a broken man. As we entered the Urgent Care, I started filling out the paperwork and Liz asked if Dr Rigg was there and the nurse said yes.

We then were taking into a observation room and were asked the normal procedure questions that a nurse is required to ask. Liz told the nurse that she believed she was related to the Dr, it being Taber's brother. The nurse then walked out the room and informed Dr. Rigg of us claiming to be related to him, we could her Dr. Rigg outside ask "What's their last name?" The nurse responds "Mucci". "I don't know any Mucci's" Dr. Riggs replies. After the conversation Dr Rigg enters our rooms and says "How do I know you?" Once he entered the room, Liz knew right away he was Taber's bro, and began linking the missing pieces.

He was so excited that we were there, he was telling everyone that his in-laws were there. He sounds like a boy who received a new puppy for Christmas. It amazed me to think he was so excited to tell everyone we were there, surely he had closer relatives that mean much more to him than a couple of strangers he met merely 10 sec prior.

However, I have come to learn that this was not the case. I learned that he is successful yet lives alone, with his son who recently returned from a mission. Oh, how my heart ached for his situation, for I know the pits of loneliness far too well. After he checked me out he asked if we had insurance. We told him we are waiting on Liz's work to send us a card and the details on how to use it. He simply said "When you get it, just fax it over to me" and "Don't worry about paying today, I won't charge you anything." He gave me the antibiotics that I need to get better and we were about to leave, then he asked if he could take a picture of us and send it to Becca. We laughed and said sure.

After leaving Becca called Liz and they chit chatted about the experience. I on the other hand was taught a wonderful lesson by the Lord. I recently have felt that the Lord has abandoned us until we "learned our lesson" so to speak. I felt punished for trying to live a normal life. I felt like because I was married so I wouldn't fall into excommunication, that I was cursed for not being sealed and using self control until March 20, our original wedding day. We sacrificed almost everything, including ties to family members, to be together and it seemed that the Lord wanted to take more. I was wrong.

The Lord was with us through it all. He is all knowing, and because of his great power, created a plan that started more than 30 years ago for this one moment in time. If Dr Rigg never became a doctor.....if Becca never met Taber....if I never met Liz...If I didn't lose it all...none of these extraordinary blessings would have ever came to pass. But they did, and because of those wonderful blessings, I too get to enjoy a small blessing of a $13 prescription given to us by a man, who loves his family, and by a God who loves us all.

The Lord is real, his gospel is real. "Therefore, ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Nephi 18:19-20).

I testify that the Lord is always at work "to bring the immortality and eternal life of man."(Moses 1:39) He knows each one of our problems, all the way down to the sickness you contract the night before. I prayed to be borne up by the Lord last night,and an answer to that prayer I did receive. The Lord had to humble me so that I might once again see his awesome power and his mercy that he so willingly gives. May you all not be like me and go the hard way to know that the Lord is there, but keep the commandments and focus on your sins of omission, so you may enjoy the fruits of the Spirit, and know of the love that God has for all of his children. We are all #1 in His eyes. May this testimony be recorded here on earth and in heaven in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Mucci Ohana Crib

[Click Above to See the High Quality Pic of our Apartment!]

Tony and I have been promising you guys pics of the apartment. however, I have been finding myself somewhat displeased with the results of the pictures because they weren't doing the apartment justice. Video it is!!!!!

Hope you guys enjoy the little tour of our beautiful new home.

love Liz and Tony

our ray of sunshine

Ever since we have moved to Simi Valley CA, I have noticed that we are blessed with some of the most amazing sunsets. Living on the third floor too helps us get to appreciate them more aswell.

picture from our patio

we get to sit on our couch on the patio and enjoy this breath taking view.

We have a huge window in our master bedroom, and we can lay on our bed and look out the window. I took this one this morning while laying on the bed.

another pic I took last night after we went out for dinner. Gosh I love the sunsets here. they are so amazing.

Eklect Enterprises Beginning

I dont really blog much. Probably due to the fact that I stink at writing. I would probably be better at podcasting, which might be in the near future.

Anywho, I just wanted to write and tell everyone to check out our latest version of EklectInc.com. Its the new parent company that I am working on creating. Unlike Eklect Records of old, this one will actually work LOL

Click Here for the Website

SAN DIEGO

So this weekend, Tony and I got a much needed vacation to San Diego. It was so fun, and we are really happy that we got to spend some time with Sarah and Tau and Aunt Karen.

The first night we stayed up pretty late playing some games with Aunt Karen. Tony kind of just gave up in the game. I don't know if it was becuase he was the only guy against three girls or if he was really just dead tired. It was super fun though.

As usual Uncle Bob was just doing his thang... Passed out in a chair. That is like his constant state of being. lol

The next day Tony and I drove down to San Diego to have some reminiscent times.

We spent our first day together in the gas lamp district. It was really fun to see it 5 months later and see where we are at today. It is crazy!

This was the first place we hung out. Next to the MAC store there was a furniture store. It isn't there anymore, but we went in there when the girls were looking at makeup and sat on a couch and started to get to know each other. lol

Thought this building was really cool looking. I took so many pics of the buildings in SD. The architecture in that city is so amazing. I love it.

While we driving, we stumbled by a harbor with tons of ships. Tony LOVES pirate ships and all sorts of things like that,. so we had to stop by and check it out. He was so cute.... he was like a kid with a new toy or something. He was totally geeky over the whole thing.

This is the first ship we went on and looked at. It is the same ship they used on the movie Master and Commander. It was super cool, but I got really sick being on it from all the motion.

bell on the Master and Commander ship

wheel thingy

This is a Russian submarine. It was so stuffy and hot on it. and you had to crawl through four little holes to get through. I didn't get as sick on this, but it was really small and uncomfortable. the American sub we went on later was a lot nicer and more spacious.

Taking a second to snap a pic on the submarine

On top of the sub.

Some more buildings in SD

On our way home we decided to Take the PACIFIC COAST back. So we got to go through Laguna beach, Newport, Long beach and so forth. it was cool. We stopped at a cool beach and snapped some pics too.

I think this is Capistrano beach

There were tons of rocks all over the beach and I had a lot of fun taking pics of them.

more rocks

cool shot of Tony sitting on a bench

Then we went to BALBOA ISLAND, and took the Auto ferry across the water.

It was cool to be in your car on a ferry. I still got a little sea sick. I get motion sick real easily.

pic on the ferry

Right when we were driving off the ferry.

We had a total blast. and it was awesome to take a stroll down memory lane. I mean, everything started for me and Tony in San Diego. That is where we first met, and fell in love. We even were super giddy staying with Aunt Karen this time, because this time, he actually got to come upstairs with me. lol It is so crazy how fast Love works. I mean we have been together for almost a half a year, but it seems like just yesterday when we spent that first day together in San Diego.

Tony- Liz Says I Should Blog

...Blog.



;-)