Body Worlds Exhibit

December 29, 2008

I had the privilege of attending a most spectacular exhibition of real human bodies – bodies of deceased individuals that had undergone a process called “plastination”.

My brother, James, along with his wife and two of his daughters, picked me up at the airport Monday morning. We spent over 3 hours in the exhibit viewing every part of the body imaginable in intricate detail: the organs; the muscles; and the skeletal system. We saw healthy organs side by side enlarged, deformed and diseased ones, broken bones that had healed after being poorly set, the intricate network of arteries, blood vessels and capillaries that network our bodies, the array of nerves that extend from the spine and branch out to our extremities. It was simply amazing. The focus of this particular exhibit was on the heart, but truly every part of the body was displayed, dissected and discussed in detail. Even though I already had a deep respect and admiration for the complex, intricate design and mechanics of the human body, the exhibit provided even further evidence that out bodies are splendid creations of a brilliant Heavenly Father who loves us dearly. How wonderfully made each of us is. How priceless this gift – our earthly bodies.

A very poignant display was that of lungs ravaged by the effects of smoking. There was even a leg that had been amputated just below the knee because smoking had created a clot in the blood vessel that fed the leg, causing the leg to turn black and die.

The part of the exhibit that touched me most deeply was that of the embryos and developing fetuses. At only eight weeks gestation all the features of the body – right down to the individual fingers - could be seen in the tiny (and I mean, oh so tiny! – like 1.5 inches tiny) little developing baby. There were fetuses from nearly each week of gestation. Each little baby so perfect, so beautiful. It’s heart-wrenching that they did not get to experience the joy of living in this beautiful world, even for a short while.

Sadly, Ed could not join us because he had two DSC basketball games to announce tonight and there was not a flight with enough availability to assure us that he would make it home in time for the games. After hearing a few details about the exhibit, he assures me that it was best he did not attend after all. Filleted bodies make him a bit queasy, I believe. But, thankfully, they did not dull our appetites. After 3 or more hours of intense studying, we were starved! We headed out for Greek Gyros that were divine, then spent some time in a bookstore (I LOVE bookstores!) and paid a visit to a store called 10 Thousand Villages that had the most wonderful nativities and other goods available for purchase from Peru. My favorite were the fat little ceramic rams. All in all, a spectacular day.

Strawberries and Crème Frappacino

One of the most divine concoctions known to mankind is Starbuck’s Strawberries and Crème Frappacino. Now, I wouldn’t actually drive to Starbucks to purchase this tasty shake-type dessert. If I were to drive somewhere for ice cream I would either get a Cherry-Almond Concrete at Neilson’s, or a Chocolate-Marshmallow Blizzard at Dairy Queen or a pint of Godiva’s White Chocolate-Raspberry ice cream at the local supermarket. Any of these 3 creamy, delectable and quite decadent desserts rate far above the little frappacino. However, when I’m sitting in an airport lounge with a couple of hours to kill before the Customer Service Agent (hopefully) calls my name for a flight, a Strawberries and Crème Frappacino is a refreshing way to wile away the time. With a frappacino in one hand and a good book in the other, the waiting is of no consequence.

Santa Claus - December 12, 2008

My favorite Santa!

Lyndy and Stacie wanted Ed to play Santa for their Talent Sprout Christmas program this year, and he was happy to oblige. The white-hair and beard combo were a bit too poofy, I thought - so I offered to give the wig a trim, but since we borrowed the outfit, Ed thought it best to leave it as it was.

Matix and I stood at the back of the auditorium and watched the awesome first-ever annual production. We watched in breathless anticipation as Ed, opps - I mean Santa came out for the "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" number. The children sang the number very cheerfully, then - at the end of the song - instead of running directly off-stage, all the little reindeer ran straight for Santa and clung to whatever part of him was available. He had one little reindeer attached to each leg, one wrapped around his middle from the front, and another reindeer (or three) hugging his back and trying to snuggle up under his arms. The little one with the death grip on his left leg looked up into Santa's eyes and said, "Santa Claus, do you remember me? I saw you yesterday at the Mall." What a marvelous experience for Ed's premier debut as Santa Claus.

As for me - I didn't need to ask Santa for anything this year, because HE IS everything I've ever wanted and the fulfillment of my every dream. I love you, Santa Claus!

Can there be TOO MUCH togetherness?

The girls in the Benefits Dept. are so adorable. They are young, bright, optimistic, enthusiastic and the best of friends. Five females spending 40+ hours per week, year in and year out, in close proximity to one another can produce a variety of effects. They can work side by side, interacting when necessary as business dictates; they can more or less ignore each other and just email pertinent info to each other as needed; they can positively loathe the sight of each other and merely tolerate any required interaction, or they can become the best of friends. The Benefits girls have chosen the latter. They plan weekend get-aways (with spouses) to places like Hawaii, Saturday play days (without spouses) to San Francisco, and have weekly departmental lunch dates. Last month they all began dieting together. Never mind that some of them are rail-thin already – they ALL participated. Although they did not all follow the same weight-loss program, they praised and encouraged and celebrated each miniscule achievement towards their individual goals.

Yes, they lunch together, they travel together, they diet together and today I saw them go into the bathroom – all together – at the same time – chatting all the while. I had never really thought of a bathroom visit as a social activity. Apparently, I was mistaken.

To Whom It May Concern:

I realize that I’ve eaten far too much chocolate and ice cream these past few years, but I want it stated for the record that I was just making up for all those years when I despised both chocolate and ice cream. It’s only been since I was about 35 years old that I could stomach the stuff, and the fact that I can now survive on nothing BUT chocolate and ice cream should not be held against me in any way. After all, I wouldn’t hold it against YOU if the roles were reversed.

As I think on it – I was so much skinnier when I loathed sweets. More stressed out and ornerier, too. So, while it’s true that the delectable taste of sugary goodness has spoiled my figure, it must simultaneously be given credit for de-stressing my life (allowing me to live to the ripe old age of 50! (whoa! That’s half a century) and altering my disposition for the better. And everyone who comes in contact with me is the beneficiary. Long live chocolate and ice cream!

The Christmas Card that Wasn't

December 18, 2005

My Dear Friends:

What lessons life has to teach us as we journey along. Sometimes the journey is as breath-taking as a sunset – beautiful, peaceful – with a feeling that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world. Sometime the journey is as exhilarating as a day on the ski slopes, gliding almost effortlessly down a wide expanse of soft, white, glistening snow. Oh, how I love those days. They are easy and sweet and carefree. Sometimes the journey seems all uphill like a hike up Angel’s landing – but even then we’re allowed a brief reprieve now and then, a moment to stop and look around and see Heavenly Father’s hand in all things, and we turn back to our task and carry on the best we can. If we are prepared and fit for the task, the going is less hard on us, but difficult just the same by the innate nature of the challenge. Some parts of the journey seem almost too much to bear – like a weight crushing the very living breath from us, and it’s a struggle just to get out of bed and go through the motions of the day. I believe we all experience each of these stages of the journey through life. Sometimes the level of ease or difficulty of the journey is due to our own choices. Sometimes it is due to situations thrust upon us from a myriad of directions.

Three years ago I pictured myself standing upon a mountainside. My place on that mountain had grown brutally cold – uninhabitable. It wasn’t a sudden change, but a gradual one - more than two decades long in the making. Below me lay a dark valley full of unknown challenges, and I knew the journey through it would be difficult at best. I had no idea how long it would take to

Okay – this is way too much for a yearly Christmas card. Scratch this one!!!

"If I had a Wish" by Ed Rogers

Here is the poem my Eddie wrote for me in the Spring of 1976:

If I had a wish, I'd wish for a friend
Someone on whom I could truly depend.

Someone to share all my grief and my sorrow,
Someone to laugh with, today and tomorrow.

Someone to show their love and affection
By singing a song of the sweetest perfection.

Someone who'd be there when I'm feeling low,
To lift up my spirits and fill up my soul.

Someone who'd see all the faults that I land,
And help me correct them by lending a hand.

Please, grant me this wish that I may know -
Who is my friend - with love that forever will grow?

Yes, Ed wrote this poem to me over 30 years ago, and I am so pleased that at last I can say – I am that friend he wanted me to be half a lifetime ago. He is the dearest person in the whole world to me, and our love will truly forever grow.

Singin' in the Rain

December 15, 2008

It snowed in St. George today – all day. If you are familiar with the weather patterns of St. George, you know how astonishing an entire day of snow is. However, there’s not much to show for it, except for a thin blanket of white covering the vehicles that line the streets – and that will be gone within a day. But the consistent drizzling of the icy wet snow did add an interesting element to my day – or rather, my evening . . .

Tonight was the final performance of the Heritage Choir’s Christmas Concert in the Cox Auditorium on the DSC campus. Just half an hour before the concert was to begin, while we were practicing a few numbers and warming up our voices, I felt a drop of “rain” on my hand. I looked down and saw, very distinctly, a water droplet on my right hand. “It’s raining on me,” I declared to Leann (my dear sis-in-law, whom I love singing beside). “What?” she asked, certain she had misunderstood me. Others around me, who had heard my declaration, assured me I was not being rained upon. “Well,” I explained, “there's moisture on my hand and it’s too cold to be spit.” Then I noticed that my music was a bit spotted from tiny water droplets, as well. Then Leann noticed that my red dress was also developing water spots. I glanced at Eliza, who sits to my left, and she, too, had water droplets on her dress and music – so I pointed it out to her. Then we noticed it was raining on Leann, too. All in all, about a dozen of us appeared to be in some sort of rain zone. We brought it to the attention of the Director, Keith Bradshaw, who found it quite funny and enjoyed a good laugh – at our expense - as did the rest of the choir. Well, there was nothing to be done about it – after all, the show must go on, right? So for the next 1.5 hours we sang – as the melted snow leaked through the auditorium roof and fell lightly (and sometimes not so lightly) through the ceiling - plopping unceremoniously upon our heads, shoulders, laps and music. It made me smile. A LOT.

After the concert, my friend Emily, who had been sitting in the front row of the audience, joined me on the stairway and asked, “Was it raining on you up there?” I laughed, “Yes, could you see it?” She told me that periodically she would glimpse a glistening drop that would catch the light of the spotlights and sparkle as it fell. She assured me that it looked very festive.

Whether anyone else in the audience noticed or not, I must say that it made for an interesting and very entertaining evening for the soprano section.

The First Date

The First Date

January 19, 2006 - Ed picked me up in front of SkyWest in his black Honda Accord (my favorite model of car, incidentally) promptly at noon. My heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat when I saw him walk around his car to open the door for me. He's such a handsome man, and such a gentleman. We lunched at Durangos where we shared details of the last 30 years of our lives, and the time passed far too quickly.

As Ed drove me back to work, he told me a very different story. “When we were in high school,” he began, “I didn’t have a girlfriend, but I did walk hand in hand down the hall with a girl once.” “Really?” I asked. “Who?” “You,” he answered simply. “Oh,” was all I could mutter, sorry that I couldn’t conjure up that particular memory. He continued to tell me of his attraction to me, of seeing me with another boy one afternoon in the auditorium, of leaving school angry enough to get a traffic ticket for “exhibition of speed” as he sped out of the high school parking lot. Later, at his own home, he wrote a poem entitled, “If I Had a Wish.” “I’d love to read that poem,” I told him. “Do you still have a copy of it?” “I’ll recite it for you,” he said – and he did! Right then and there, word for word, in his car – in the SkyWest parking lot - 30 years after writing it. I was astonished, and I’m sure it showed in my face. I was intrigued by this gorgeous man with the beautiful voice and tender heart who had liked me so much – so long ago, but was too shy to tell me. I wanted to know him better. I longed to know him better.

Over the next few weeks Ed was very busy traveling to various high schools throughout Utah, and he would sometimes call me as he drove, or sometimes he would call after settling down in his motel room for the night. We talked for hours and hours, sometimes very late into the night. Although we were getting to know each other through these conversations, it was when he asked me out for a second date that positively thrilled me. He asked me to go hiking with him in Snow Canyon. There are few activities he could have asked me to join him in that would have won me over more quickly or completely. I adore hiking!