The Bountiful Summer

Recently, my mother wrote a book about my great uncle and my grandfather. I wanted to share some of my experiences living with my Great Uncle Dean. As well as share a link to my Mother’s book.

I wanted to reflect on the summer of 2017 for a little bit. It was a fantastic time for Brooke and me. After I graduated from BYU, we were actually kicked out of our student housing in Provo. My job in San Jose was starting in September, so Brooke and I needed to figure out what we were going to do for 3 months. My great uncle Dean lived in Bountiful, so we got in touch with him and his daughter Becky to see if we could stay with Dean. They were delighted to have us stay. Brooke had recently worked in a mini-retirement home of sorts and helped older people who couldn’t live by themselves. It was a match made in heaven.

At this time, I was preparing for the CPA exam. I set my computer up in the basement, and there I studied continually for essentially the whole 3 month period. I only took breaks during the day to make lunch and dinner for the three of us or sometimes to go to the grocery store.

Uncle Dean often had trouble moving around. He really liked to go to the grocery store, but often a trip would take more than an hour. I was prepared for this. In the car I would read the CPA exam textbooks, and in the store I would bring flashcards with me. Any free minute I had was filled with flashcards. Our favorite store was a place we called Market Square (I think it is labeled the NPS store; I don’t know where our name for it came from). There we would buy all sorts of expired or nearly expired food for bargain prices. I really haven’t seen too many stores like it. I don’t know if you can sell expired goods like that in California, where I am from. We also would get lots of produce for super cheap. For example, the Costco salad mixes could be bought for a dollar or less at Market Square (I think it's like 4 times that much at Costco). You would just need to use the food up pretty quick. It was a great chance for me to try out some new ingredients in the kitchen. It was a fun time. On the nights I didn’t cook, we went out to dinner. I think Uncle Dean also really liked to go out to eat. He had lots of restaurants he liked. Some of them his daughter Becky, was understandably not a fan of. So I felt especially good when we were able to go somewhere he wasn’t able to go to normally (Like Chuck-A-Rama).

Somehow, even though Uncle Dean was barely able to walk on his own (with a walker, granted), he was able to live on his own with an association of help from different people. For example, the neighbor Chris would help with the yard work. Uncle Dean’s cousin Eldean would help clean the house. Eldean was quite a character. She was an avid Trump supporter, and would just gobble up propaganda from PragerU and other extreme right wing sources. Sometimes I would try to tell her these crazy conspiracies were simply not true, but she wouldn’t have it. Even Uncle Dean, a lifelong republican, didn’t like Donald Trump. In fact, Uncle Dean was such a republican, I recall once a driver was driving a little fast/recklessly down the street and Uncle Dean said, “must be a democrat.”

There were also nurses that would come from Midas Creek. They would help Uncle Dean put on his compression socks in the morning. It was quite an ordeal. His diabetes caused his legs to swell up quite a bit. They would only come 3 times a week or so, so the other times, Brooke would help.

And of course there was Becky. Becky would come at least once a day, often twice or more. Every night she would help put Uncle Dean to bed. Putting Uncle Dean to bed was also a bit of a task. To end the day, his compression socks had to be removed. I think it was a little easier removing them versus putting them on, but not that much. Uncle Dean’s nighttime pills also made him sleepy, so it was important that he not spend too much time in his chair getting ready.

Once or twice, Brooke and I helped put Uncle Dean to bed. On one of those nights, Uncle Dean slid out of his chair and was on the floor. We had to hoist him up somehow and get him into bed. Uncle Dean was a few inches taller than me, and quite a few pounds heavier, so this was quite a task. Becky, Brooke, and I struggled a bit. On one of the occasions, we had to get John to help, Becky’s husband. John easily picked Uncle Dean up and put him into his bed. The other time, Nick and his girlfriend came and the 5 of us all worked together to get him into bed.

Prior to our arrival, Becky would bring food to Uncle Dean everyday as well. Becky was also often the voice of reason. Sometimes Uncle Dean would want to buy all sorts of crazy stuff. For example, he wanted to buy medical scrubs as pants. I think I may have discouraged him a little, but when we got back, Becky told us he had way too many pants already. So we helped bring them back for a refund.

Ultimately, our time in Bountiful was one of the most fun periods of our married life. I passed three sections of my CPA exam with scores in the mid to high 90s. We bonded with my Great Uncle and Becky and her family.