Me and my Daddy

Normally I am just to a fault--fairness is one of the most important virtues to me. Certainly I know that life is not fair and all that, but I can certainly try and be fair. All that to say, after writing about mom for Mother's Day I have long been intending to write about dad too. Below you will find my top 5 favorite memories of my father.

I grew up in a family with 5 younger siblings. My home was almost always busy, happy, and exciting, but I learned early that time alone with daddy was valuable and worth seeking out. Dad started out with 2 daughters before he finally got his son, so my earliest happy memory with him is learning all about football--rules, penalties, positions, and scoring. That of course led to many happy memories watching football with dad.

Dad also taught me about fishing as a young girl, and to this day I love to fish. My favorite fishing memory with my dad was when we were camping one day. Me and dad got up earlier than everyone else and went trout fishing for a few hours. We had been waiting for two old men to vacate a lucrative fishing hole for most of that time and we finally started catching stuff when they left. Unfortunately a thunder storm started right about then and we had to take the boat to shore and seek emergency shelter under a tree. I don't remember what we talked about but I do remember feeling special and important and loved.

My next memory is not nearly as specific. I was a typical teenager, sure that my world was tumbling down around my ears at the slightest provocation and one day when I was crying over some reason that I'm sure I would twinge over now dad gave me a hug and wiped away my tears. His thumb was large and calloused and I felt like everything would be alright--I will never forget the love behind that gesture.

Next happened recently. In 2011 I ran a marathon in Kansas. Don't ask me where this crazy idea came from cause I still don't know, but mom, dad, and one of my sisters all came to support me. As I crossed the finish line they were all there to greet me and dad didn't seem to mind that I was sweaty and disgusting he just held open his arms and hugged me to him. He still thinks it was a wildly crazy idea (rightly so, I guess) but he still supported me.

My favorite favorite memory though was when he sent me off on my mission. I will never forget the way he hugged me and the feelings we shared then.

I love my dad! I am so lucky in the parents that I was given.

Finished

I can’t believe I am done. I have been on this journey so long that I almost don’t know how to feel now that it is over. The ceremony itself was a bit of a blur. It didn’t help that I was running a fever and my whole body was aching, but as I gave my professors and classmates a hug at the end my hoarse voice said “goodbye” somehow I felt like I was rehearsing a line. I have said more than a few goodbyes during this year of moving every 3 months for a new internship but somehow these are partings I wasn’t prepared for. How does it make sense to say goodbye when of course I would see them all again in class—the same way I had seen them every week day for the last 2 years… except I won’t see them again. This is the end of school. The class of 2012 is disbanded and we are all officially physical therapists now. I sat by Christine and Ansley, Jenny cried a little, Jason laughed at me for sleeping during the ceremony, Elias skipped the whole thing, and minus one other palpable absence the whole gang was there. It was refreshing to see everyone, but even better was the feeling of standing on the stage, listening to my name being read, and having Dr. Anton place a hood over my head. That is a feeling I will never forget—a warmness not quite from my fever or the sun that left me grinning like a fool and prancing across the platform to retrieve an empty diploma cover. After seven years, an embarrassingly large sum of student loans, a river of tears, an untold number of late nights, and more stress than I ever thought I could endure, I am finished. An army of teachers, friends, family, and mentors have led me to this moment and there is no way I could have gotten here any other way. Even with that, it was also a lot of work. A mountain of really really exhaustingly hard work, and I did it.

You can call me doctor if you want.

Hair: 1 Me: 0

I lost yet another epic battle to my hair earlier this week. Not good. This is a fairly common occurrence and I will take this opportunity to outline the various strategies of the opposing sides in all their hairy glory:

My strategies

Bio-warfare: I literally drown my poor hair in a barrage of product. Shampoo, conditioner, curling moose or gel, frizz control as needed, and whatever else I can use to try and control the opposing forces.

Capture and Torture: Tying up, pinning back, braiding, twisting around, and whatever other strategy I can think of to force my hair into whatever socially-acceptable shape I can manage, whether it wants to be there or not!

Suffocation: technique utilizing hat, scarf, bandanna, or paper bag if that is all that is available.

Negligence: Sometimes when all else fails all I can do is do my best to ignore what a mess my hair is. I have gotten pretty good at pretending not to know it is such a disaster.

Decapitation: Not used quite as frequently but occasionally there is nothing else for it but to cut off the fuzzy mess and dispose of the casualties.

Hair Strategies


Explosives: This seems to be my hair's weapon of choice--expanding from seemingly harmless strands into a mini tree. Nice.

Kamikaze sacrifice: I lose lots of hair... lots and lots. So desperate to be separated from me it seems to leap out of my head.

Sneak Attack: Another favorite: after painstakingly exerting my best efforts to control the mop perched atop my head it delights in escaping said style, bushing into wildness, and corkscrewing into chaos.

Indecent Exposure: I'm half embarrassed to mention this one,but my hair likes to show looks that are absolutely not meant for public eyes.

And so the battle rages on. Eventually, of course I will win, cause I have the ultimate weapon at my disposal; raze and destroy. I haven't yet pulled the "shave off the offending forces" move, but as it is always in my power to do so my hair will never be able to fully defeat me!

Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day I have thought about what tribute would be good to share here since I am pretty sure she is really the only one who reads this... stuff. (I wanted to use a different word, but as this is a post for her I don't think she would have liked the one I was thinking of). I decided on a collection of her common quotes-ones I do not always like because I am not always smart enough to listen to my mother, but ones she uses a lot.

"Don't Should on Yourself"
Mom doesn't like the word should--it usually is used in a send-yourself-on-a-guilt trip way after all.


"You are on Thin Water!"
This started as a family joke, though it was a dangerous funny at the time. I was just a little girl but still remember the situation. Dad had done something to make mom mad and even though we all knew her irritation was rising (the steam was coming out of her ears in little puffs, her eyes were slowly starting to glow red) whatever dad was doing he continued, much to mom's irritation. Finally she blurted this quote out in frustration--an unsuccessful unconscious effort to combine the "in hot water" and "on thin ice" threats. This is definitely a you-had-to-be-there moment but I will not soon forget the way mom's palpable irritation slowly melted away as my father (who has a special talent for making people laugh at themselves) got us giggling and mom allowed her grumpiness to wash it away. Now when she uses it I feel like she is reminding me not to take myself too seriously.


"It's going to be okay."
I will not embarrass myself by disclosing how frequently I need this assurance, but I will say that mom is always able and willing to give it, no matter what time I call her. : )


"I don't need it..."
This one makes me smile and shake my head in exasperation. Mom, who is often encouraging me to splurge a little and get something new--shoes, a dress, a top, or whatever (not that I usually do, haha) never ever seems to get one for herself even when dad tells her to. He almost always has to take her to the store and make her get something. Such is the selflessness of motherhood--always putting everyone's needs above her own.

 

"Well President Eyering says:"
Mom likes all the church leaders, but for whatever reason President Eyering seems to be her favorite. Whatever follows is usually wise and wonderful but we still like to give her a hard time.


"A person all wrapped up in themselves makes a very small package"
Think about it.

"I'm cold."
Mom is a frugal machine who also suffers from significantly low blood pressure. Consequently in the middle of Texas winter (and I know those words don't really go together, but humor me--it's Mother's Day) she keeps the house in the 60s before she turns on the heater. When she was still working at home this meant that she would sit on the couch with her computer with a sweatshirt, at least 1 coat, and at least 1 pair of gloves or socks on her hands to try and get her work done. The ironic part of this whole story is that while I complain here I will probably end up keeping my house at the extreme temperature ends too because that's how I grew up--you save money by suffering a little.

"Have you prayed about it?"
This is her answer to every problem I bring to her (and let's just say I probably bring more than my fair share and most of them I bring more than once). Excellent advice--the kind that sometimes makes me laugh and say, "do you really always have to be right?"

"I don't know what I'm doing"
Strange for her to say that to me, as I am a firm believer that she does have it all figured out, but also somehow comforting because I absolutely have no clue what I'm doing, so if that is true at least I'm in good company!

"I'm doing laundry"
It seems like mom is always always always doing laundry. I don't mind laundry personally but I happen to know it is her least favorite job. Sorry mom. : (

and last but not least....

"I love you!"
 I love you too mom. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. I am a pretty lucky kiddo to have a laundry-master, prophet quoting, reassuring, mother Sensei  in my forever future. Happy Mother's Day!

The Beautiful Oregon Coast

So after finishing my internship in Medford, OR I took a long leisurly drive dipping first down into Calinfornia to see the Redwood Forest then up along the coast to get to my next internship destination. This was absolutely some of the most beautiful scenery and atmosphere I have ever seen ever. I felt guilty and bloated trying to absorb it all by myself it was so pretty!

 

The Redwood Forest

This is called the family tree. It's trippy. If you look close you can see other trees growing out of the branches, sending their roots into the main branches of the mother tree and getting their nourishment that way. The sign said there were 12 trees in all from this single trunk. You can see one really well in the right corner.

These guys are 297 feet(ish) tall 

This is called the Cathedral Tree--it is 9 trees all growing together, using the same roots system

This is a fallen tree that had several (maybe 6?) new trees growing out of it.

This isn't a great picture cause I made it look like a branch, but this is a tree growing sideways. Wild, eh?

This is a petrified tree ring they have at the entrance--it shows how old the tree was before it finally died.


After the Redwoods I went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I love aquariums, maybe even more than zoos, and this one was pretty cool.

These birds literally fly through the water--not swim, they flap their wings, tuck their feet, and fly underwater. It's pretty bizarre. They also have this oily stuff on their feathers that makes them look like they are covered in metal underwater.

The ceiling in one of those walk-through aquarium. I really couldn't take a picture of this that was awesome enough to make you see how cool it is.

Jelly fish--one of the weirdest animals in the ocean.


So it was pretty much an awesome trip. So breathtakingly gorgeous! God sure did an excellent job on this area.

Happy

I am happy. I can say that without reservation, apology, or explanation. I am happy. I love being happy. I love to laugh and smile and absorb the beauty and grace of the world around me like sunshine penetrating through my pores.  This really is a magical time of the year. I feel like everything around me is doing its very best to announce the love of God. The way the rain brightens and cleans the very air we breath, the way the sunshine glitters off the baby flower buds is almost magic, the way the trees, flower beds, and even people's wardrobes suddenly explode into color, and the way everything smells fresh and new. We are emerging out of winter like refugees desperate for the sun, and there it is to greet us!

I am currently in Vancouver, Washington and I see the sun about twice a week, but somehow that makes it even more exciting each time I do. I think I am in love. I spend every work day with a group of some of the most adorable kids you could ever ask to meet. They have been sent to this earth with bodies that can't do all of the things mine can, but they still manage to inspire me every day. The smile of a child is magic, especially when the child is beloved and trust me when I tell you, it is impossible not to fall in love with these kids.

Perhaps my favorite part is that this whole season preaches resurrection, rebirth, and renewal. Happiness. Just like the planet gets to remake itself each spring, I have the chance to reshape my attitude, the kids I get to spend time with will be given re-formed perfected bodies, and best of all I have the gift of opportunity to remake myself through the grace of my Savior. All of these second chances are made possible by the matchless gift He has offered to all of mankind--His perfect life, the atonement, and the triumphant resurrection where He overcame every last obstacle that was facing all of us. He has won every battle we or anyone will ever fight ever--all we have to do is join His side and allow Him to take over our own trials and difficulties. How can I not feel happy? He lives! He really does. The tomb, the mob, the grave, and every other person, dominion, or power that would try and hold him has failed forever, and Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, has won for and in behalf of all of mankind. This is the happiest news ever to sound anywhere I am a happy girl.

Sister Burton!

This beautiful woman is Sister Linda K Burton--the new general Relief Society president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This is another picture of her (you will see her in the back in a green shirt with a black jacket) As you can see, she was my mission president's wife! I am way beyond excited. She will be amazing as RS president. I will miss Sister Beck, but I am ecstatic to see and hear her again. YAYAY!!!