Shoulder Angel

I started this post weeks ago, but never finished and totally forgot about it!  I haven't felt like I had a lot to say lately, my life is so average!  Now, I'll finish it.

I had a great few days at RootsTech this week!  My main objective was to go to classes about how to how to format and write my personal history.  I came away with so many ideas!  I have ideas for histories that will take me forever to complete.  They must be done before I exit!  I went with my good friend, Geri, from our ward.  It was great to have someone there to talk to, eat lunch with, and bounce around ideas.  We found Rae D. there too, who used to live in the neighborhood.  I should type up the ideas I heard in the classes so I don't forget the direction I want to go with all of this.  I will!


The highlight for me was having Relative Race there.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show!  They brought in last seasons red team and black team (big red hair) for Q and A, and it was so fun.

We let Rae leave before thinking of
doing this picture, dang it! 

I've been working on catching up the scrapbooks I've neglected for so many years.  One of the things that hit me hard at RootsTech was how important it is for kids to know that they belong, to their families and their ancestors.  Studies show that kids who know where they came from are more resilient and able to handle adversity (somebody at RootsTech said this).  When they know their stories, they know that they can get through hard stuff because others in their families have gotten through hard things too.

I'm working on getting all my scrapbooks digitized and simplified.  I use shutterfly.com, and have printed off 10 books so far!  There's so much more to do!  I also want to get my personal history done.  What I learned at RootsTech is that a chronology isn't the best (boring!).  A personal history is better written in chunks.  52 questions on the Family Search website is a great place to start.  The oncologist that runs our support group said she did essays on her values for her kids.  Like empathy, honesty, forgiveness, etc. etc. and then include experiences from your life to tell the story about those values.  I think that's brilliant!

If I manage to get all that done, I want to create storybooks about our ancestors with snippets of their stories.  As I was browsing through Family Search the other day, I discovered that one of my ancestors fought in the Civil War.  I found the ancestors that were the first immigrants from Europe.  I remember my Mom saying that one of our ancestors was on the Mayflower, but I haven't found documentation on that yet.  I'm sure there are lots of fascinating stories up in my tree.

I started working outside Tuesday, which was so fun!  I managed to fill both garbage cans with clumps of grass.  Garbage day is Tuesday, so we can't throw anything away until next week.  😂  There's so much work to do outside.  We decided we're just going to do the very front of the house this year (redoing sprinklers and getting landscape in), and work on the back and sides next summer.  We're keeping this yard pretty simple, flower beds will basically just be in the front.  I just can't handle more than that.

I had my group last week where we learned that one of my favorite women, Elaine, had passed away the week before.  I learned two days ago that another friend, Mieke, from group had passed away.  Cancer is no joke, friends!  There is no such thing as remission for stage 4 cancer, there's only the blessing of time between the good and the bad.  Right now I'm good.  I'm praying it stays that way for a good long time! Both of these women lived their lives to the fullest.  I found out a few months ago that Elaine and her husband were building their dream house.  It was so fun to hear about the progress, although I admit early on I wondered why they would go to the expense of building a dream house when her health was so sketchy.  You know what?  She got to live out the last few months of her life in the house she always wanted.  The house matched her personality perfectly, spunky, vibrant, happy, bright.  I'm so happy for her!

It was Mieke's husband that came to do the Shaman blessing at our retreat last September.  That was really the first time I got to talk to Mieke, she had such an interesting life!  She was born in Belgium, made her way to the US at some point (college?) and ended up marrying a Shoshone Shaman later in life.  I loved her accent and her laugh.

I love that I get to know these amazing women in my group who live their lives to the absolute fullest.  I was a Huntsman today and saw this sign in the office I was in.  I think it says perfectly how these women lived, and how I intend to live.  Having a terminal illness isn't about counting months or years, it's about LIVING the very best life you can.  It's about loving, it's about having faith in God's timing.  It's about leaving this life with a legacy your family can hold onto.  It's about NO REGRETS.

I'm working on it.