Absentee Blogger

So I've been away for a while.  Guess I should do a quick post to update you on my family.

* Regan is about to start her sophomore year in high school.  She's a few months shy of 15 yrs old.  Not much has changed other than her physical appearance as she is turning into quite the beautiful young woman. She started wearing contacts this year and now she looks all "growed up".

* Lisa is starting her 7th grade year.  She is 12 and is really starting to like boys.  It's kinda funny and cute since Regan never really (or at least hasn't yet) hit this stage of boy craziness.  She loves her friends.....probably more than her family sometimes.  : ) She got braces 2 days after her 12th birthday.  She's starting to learn to play the violin.

* Grayson is starting his 4th grade year.  He is 9 and continues to grow taller, but remains skinny.  He struggles with anxiety at times which makes him have stomach issues.  We are working on that.  He also loves his friends, but not quite as much as he loves electronics.  His current favorite electronic game is one on my iphone or ipad: Dragonvale--where he can build dragon cities and hatch dragons.

* Tanner is starting 1st grade.  I can't believe my baby will be in school all day now.  What is a mom to do?  Don't worry, I'm sure I'll fill my time with lots of fun things.  : )  He also continues to grow tall.  He will be 7 in just over a month and loves to play with his brother.  He keeps me on my toes and is my accident prone child.  In fact, he smashed his finger in the door today and had to get 6 stitches.  Poor kid.

* Jim and I are fine.  Jim still works at SEL, Inc in Pullman.  He's starting his 8th year there and is a supervisor to a group of employees.  I still teach step aerobics at NIAC (North Idaho Athletic Club) and have recently started teaching turbo kick as well.  I love what I do and love to stay healthy and fit.  Jim's still the Stake Clerk and I'm serving as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.  I've been there just over a year.

Service

Lately I've been having a lot of different thoughts about service.  What is service?  To me, service means doing something for someone else that they can't do for themselves.  Usually this means that some form of physical service needs to take place; however, I've learned over the last month or so that not all service is physical. 

Maybe these thoughts have come because of my "new" calling.  I'm the second counselor in our ward Relief Society; over the mid-week RS meetings.  But with this calling, I've also been asked to help out my RS president by taking care of our ward's food orders.  This means visits with some families in my ward who are in need of some extra help a couple of times a month.  These "extra" visits in my schedule have really helped bless me with a better attitude of service.  I'm constantly wondering if these families are doing okay.  I'm not worried about why they need the help (which is what I was worried about.  I didn't want to be judgmental). And with those thoughts of these families comes the thoughts of if there are any others that need help, and if there's anything I can do for them.

But I'm also very aware of the fact that I can't help everyone.  So with that, I have learned that sometimes all I can do is pray for them.  And this is how my definition of service has expanded.  I'm grateful for these little lessons in life. 

Little reminders....

This last week has been filled with lots of little reminders to me of how short this life really is, and that I should slow down and enjoy the amazing blessings I've been given.

About 5 years ago I met a very fun lady, Sonia Todd.  Her oldest son, James, and Regan were in the same grade (possibly the same class, I can't remember) in elementary school and both were chosen to participate in the school's spelling bee.  Over the next several years, we'd run into each other at various places around town, mostly school events, PTO meetings and functions, yearly spelling bees, or city sports games that our kids were in together.  I was drawn to her beautiful smile and her shyness, I think.  As most of you who are reading this know, I'm not a shy person by nature.  Reserved, maybe, but not shy.  But having grown up with a twin who was shy, I was comfortable with approaching her and striking up conversations.  She never failed to make me laugh.

Well as time went on, Sonia and I realized that we had two sets kids that share the same age.  Her youngest son, Jason, is the same age as Grayson.  And with each season of micro-soccer, t-ball, and basketball, we also noticed that Grayson and Jason were almost always on the same teams, as well as in the same classes at school.  The two became very good friends and play dates were a must.  And as their friendship grew, so did mine and Sonia's.  It was heaven sent, I have no doubt about this.

Why do I share this story?  Because this last Sunday, October 14th, Sonia passed away after fighting a great fight against colon cancer.  She's a few months older than me, which is a major shock to my system.  I've always known this, but it's never hit quite so close to home.  Anyone can die at any time, no matter how young they are.

I've shed many tears and said MANY prayers in her and her family's behalf.  She left behind a wonderful husband and their two boys, James, 14 (maybe 15 by now), and Jason, 8.  But what is amazing in all of this is that she lived long enough to celebrate her 38th birthday the way she wanted to: 70s style.  Me and my family were invited to this extraordinary event, and the girls and I dressed up to share in this fun occasion (Jim and the boys went, too, but adorned in today's fashions).  We danced, played pool and table tennis, ate and laughed for the evening with her and her other friends and family, completely putting behind us that Sonia was dieing.  What an amazing blessing this was for all of us.  We now get to remember how wonderfully funny and sweet and adventurous she really was, behind that shy exterior.

Her birthday was at the end of September, just weeks before her passing.

Sonia and her husband, Brian...totally groovy

Groovy girls ready to have a groovy time

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to get the Afro any bigger.  Oh well, we did our best.

Read her obituary, and you'll get a small glimpse of what her character was like.  She wrote it herself (she was a free-lance writer and had many short stories published in the paper as well as a published book).  She also kept a blog for a while, which is a lot of fun to read.  If you ever need a pick-me-up, go to her blog and read one of her posts.  It's no wonder that the Lord needs her so much in heaven.  Humor and laughter has got to be important up there.

I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to know this special woman for the short time I did.  She helped me realize that I need to do all I can to bring laughter and smiles into my life and remember all of the good in the world.  

Her blog:  www.myfirstlaunch.blogspot.com
Her obituary is below.

Sonia Elaine Todd, 38, of Moscow

Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:00 am 

 

Sonia Elaine Todd, 38, of Moscow, died on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012.

My obituary

My name is Sonia Todd, and I died of cancer at the age of 38. I decided to write my own obituary because they are usually written in a couple of different ways that I just don't care for. Either, family or friends gather together, and list every minor accomplishment from cradle to grave in a timeline format, or they try and create one poetic last stanza about someone's life that is so glowing one would think the deceased had been the living embodiment of a deity.

I don't like the timeline format because, let's face it, I never really accomplished anything of note. Other than giving birth to my two wonderful, lovable, witty and amazing sons (James and Jason), marrying my gracious, understanding and precious husband (Brian), and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior - I have done very little. None of which requires obit space that I have to shell out money for.

I also didn't want a bunch of my friends sitting around writing a glowing report of me, which we all know would be filled with fish tales, half-truths, impossible scenarios, and out-right-honest-to-goodness-lies. I just don't like to put people in that kind of situation.

The truth, or my version of it, is this: I just tried to do the best I could. Sometimes I succeeded, most of the time I failed, but I tried. For all of my crazy comments, jokes and complaints, I really did love people. The only thing that separates me from anyone else is the type of sin each of us participated in. I didn't always do the right thing or say the right thing and when you come to the end of your life those are the things you really regret, the small simple things that hurt other people.

My life was not perfect and I encountered many, many bumps in the road. I would totally scrap the years of my life from age 16 to 20 ... OK, maybe 14 to 22. I think that would eradicate most of my fashion disasters and hair missteps from the '80s. But mostly, I enjoyed life. Some parts of it were harder than others, but I learned something from every bad situation and I couldn't do any more than that.

Besides there are some benefits to dying youngish, for example, I still owe on my student loans and the jokes on them cuz I'm not paying them. Plus, I am no longer afraid of serial killers, telemarketers or the IRS. I don't have to worry about wrinkles or the ozone layer and/or hide from the news during election season.

Some folks told me that writing my own obituary was morbid, but I think it is great because I get a chance to say thank you to all the people who helped me along the way. Those who loved me, assisted me, cared for me, laughed with me and taught me things so that I could have a wonderful, happy life. I was blessed beyond measure by knowing all of you. That is what made my life worthwhile.

If you think of me, and would like to do something in honor of my memory do this:

- Volunteer at a school, church or library.

- Write a letter to someone and tell them how they have had a positive effect on your life.

- If you smoke - quit.

- If you drink and drive - stop.

- Turn off the electronics and take a kid out for ice cream and talk to them about their hopes and dreams.

- Forgive someone who doesn't deserve it.

- Stop at all lemonade-stands run by kids and brag about their product.

- Make someone smile today if it is in your power to do so.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20 at Trinity Baptist Church, 711 Fairview Drive, Moscow, with a potluck reception following, everyone is welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers a memorial fund has been set up at the Blaine Street Branch of the US Bank in Moscow. Gifts can be made out to the Todd Boys Educational Fund.