Precious Children

       

On a Monday a week ago, my nephew, Peter, was born.  He is a beautiful baby - well, what I can tell from the couple of pictures I've seen.  I now have 12 amazing nieces and nephews.  They are each beautiful and unique in their own way and I love them dearly.  A few years ago, when I had only one niece to spoil, someone asked me what I thought it would be like to be a mother.  I have never had children of my own, you see.  In trying to imagine it, I thought of how I felt about that sweet niece of mine and was overwhelmed by how much I loved her - I couldn't imagine the strength of love a mother must have for her children.  Amazing how with each new child, your heart grows to be able to love them all. 

On Monday of this week, a beautiful little first-grade girl died of cancer.  Her time on this earth was over much sooner than any of her loved ones would have wished.  I don't really know her.  But I know and love her Aunt Kirsten.  I remember crying with Kirsten last fall when it was discovered that 5-year-old Mara had cancer.   I could not truly understand how her aunt, much less her mom and dad, must feel.  But I could imagine it.  I imagined what it would feel like to have my little niece, who was the same age, be diagnosed with cancer, and my heart was wrenched. 

Tonight I am imagining what it would feel like to lose to death one of the precious children who belong to my family.  I am intensely grateful that they are all healthy and well. 

No one but God knows the length of our lives.  There is hope in knowing that our families can be together forever and that death is not the end for our loved ones.  But there is also grief and pain in a child whose presence is gone from our lives for a time.  I am crying tonight not for Mara, but for her family and loved ones.  I can only imagine what they must be feeling.  Mara's Story

Being Grateful for Small Things

So I am home in Utah and find myself wanting to write an "Ode to my bed". Truly, as we learned from the Wizard of Oz - there is no place like home. I think the nature of life is that we get used to what we have with us all the time. At least, I do. I don't mean to take things for granted, but I inevitably do, until I don't have them anymore.

Case in point, my bed. I don't realize how much I love it until I have to sleep on hotel beds for awhile. Another fine example is my health. Something I don't really think about until I am sick and realize how great being well feels. I often don't appreciate things until they are gone. Fortunately, many of those things are only gone temporarily. But a few times, there are the things that you truly appreciate only after they are out of your life forever. A good lesson in being grateful for everything we have every day.

Country Roads....take me home....

I got homesick tonight. Strange, though, because I have only been away from home for a week, and will be returning on Saturday. And I am in lovely Virginia where people are friendly and I have met some really great people through my trainings. Maybe the homesickness trigger was eating by myself at a restaurant, where I felt the need to clarify to my waiter that I was alone because I am in town on business.

On my way from my hotel to my work location each day, I pass a beautiful LDS church building. Every time, I have looked at it and felt a pang of.....something. Tonight, on the way back from the restaurant, I saw many cars parked there, and I stopped for a few minutes. Overwhelmed with wanting to be home in Utah, I went into the church building and was wrapped in familiarity. It was the next best thing to really being home. I feel a measure of peace. But I am still looking forward to really being home.

On the road again

Before every trip I take, for work or pleasure, I find myself spending hours packing and taking care of all the little things that need to be done now because they won't be able to be done while I am gone. No matter how many times I travel or how organized I think I am beforehand, I inevitably find myself finishing up the packing at midnight or later the night before departure. Exhausted. Ready for another adventure to begin. I have to say, though, I do prefer packing to unpacking.

I'm off to Phoenix and Virginia - with my very full suitcase!

I found myself again

So, due to a little prodding and mocking by friends around me that I did not remember how to navigate to my "new" blog, I put forth the effort yesterday to find it. I'm not promising, however, that I will remember to add entries all that often. But maybe more, now that I know how to find my own blog.

This weekend I put aside a lot of the things I "had" to do, or in other words, the tasks the responsible person inside my head was telling me I needed to do, and spent a lot of time playing. Now, playing for me involves anything that I am doing for fun or enjoyment - reading a new fiction series I've recently discovered, watching movies, going out to eat, and sleeping in. Much of that, but not all, involves friends. Friends I feel comfortable with, who I can be myself with (and that can get a little obnoxious for them, I'm sure, but they smile at me like I am funny & witty) and who I don't see all the time (which makes the together time even better).

I have been reminded this weekend of who I am. What I love and what makes me happy. How I act when I am happy (watch out, world, I get a little hyper and crazy). And what a 3 day weekend should really be all about.

There - take that, Jason and Melissa! I think this is a pretty darn good blog entry. (: