As Little Children

Dear Daddy,

     I am awake at 4 am and can't help thinking that if I had awakened in the early morning while I was visiting you in Idaho, we could have one of our famous talks.  You would be downstairs making whole wheat toast or sitting in a recliner chair reading a book. I would drop on the couch wrapped in a warm blanket and we would talk and laugh and talk a little more.  So, I am going to pretend. Pretend I am talking to you, laughing, crying then laughing again. 

You told me one time, "When I was a young man I became very ill and had an ulcer from worrying so much. I decided I would try to laugh when I felt like crying and pretty soon it became a habit. I have not had an ulcer since". Surely if I were there we would laugh much more than we would cry. Thanks for this lesson as it was surely a week full of times where I could have just cried. 

     It was a week of opposites for me and  when I heard you got sick while serving in the temple, it was a week of opposites for you too.  Serving the Lord seems like it should preclude a body from getting sick, but as witnessed by missionaries who can still become sick on their missions, all of us are still tied down by this fallible human body. 

     I want to start with the funny parts of my "opposition week"because even sickness brings its own type of levity. Maybe a dark and twisted levity, but "funny" all the same. A few months ago, when Syd was sick and I was feeling down, Mom sent me a picture of herself missing her front teeth to cheer me up! It was weird and even ghastly, but it worked! Yes, you guys have taught me that laughing is much funner than crying!

    So, here comes my story. I had put off taking the required flu vaccine for my work, worried I might get sick. I had it on the last day of my 3 day work stretch so I could be sick on my days off. I had started with a mild fever and runny nose, a couple days later and suddenly felt so tired! Nothing could have prepared me, however, for the day when Dave and I were stuck in traffic. There was no way to move to the side of the road, and, it was NOT the optimal time for my stomach to go on revolt.  I could tell by the loud churnings and painful cramps that mount Vesuvius might be erupting soon, but I felt like a villager at the base of the mountain. Powerless to change my fate! The iron butt clench worked for awhile, but despite my best efforts, the eruption did occur and warm, molten lava spewed  forth from my volcano's mouth and spilled not so silently into my britches and even through into the cars interior. I do not know how babies can stand to have all that awfulness plastered to their rear ends! All Dave said was, "Did that just really happen? " as he kept his eyes on the road, trying not to laugh or gag...I may never find out which one it was. Horrified, I quickly grabbed a pillow from the back seat and sat on it before the boiling lava could further ruin the upholstery. We tried not to get in a wreck as we proceeded to his work to drop him off. We laughed most of the way and when he finally pulled up to the curb at his work he said, "Whatever happens don't speed home. You don't want to get a ticket with poopy pants".

I said, "Maybe having the poopy pants would get me out of the ticket as proof I was speeding to find a restroom".

    The next day consisted of another alarming symptom when I suddenly erupted out in painful lesions in my mouth and scalp. A trip to the doctor had me worried they were shingles, but after a second opinion, I was told I could have a form of vasculitis and I needed to see an immunologist. We will see what the immunologist says. If he can keep me from pooping my pants in public and prevent the painful lesions from reappearing, I say he is "hired".

     It was a week of opposites because even though I was not feeling my best, we still soldiered forward so we could have our annual "Teen Halloween Party". I only got a few photos  as I was busy playing hostess, but we had about 30 kids in our house and had fun playing games and eating!

Georgia did not like her costume much. Even though she was "Super Dog" I heard a sound coming from Syd's room the day after Halloween. It sounded like a baby crying, but it was just Georgia whining for her costume to be taken off.

We took our Halloween decorations down and Syd said the front porch looked bare! She immediately took care of it by chalking us a turkey!

Mom says you are going to the doctor today to see about some new medicine. I sure hope you get feeling better!

    I think C.S. Lewis says it best when he says, "You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body". Yes, I think the thing that makes it so weird to be sick is that our spirits can be well while our bodies are surprisingly ill. Really its probably the greatest dichotomy of life that by the time our souls have figured everything out ,and we are at peace with the world, that is when our bodies decide to finally give out. How ironic! Wouldn't it be nicer to not go through the degradation of old age and present to God our bodies in the prime of youth with the wisdom of the ages. I think one reason we have to go through the aging and sick process is this simple fact. If we haven't learned this one lesson by the time we are old, then surely the state of our bodies will teach us this. This life was never about US in the first place. It is about GOD as our creator.  Growing old and falling apart at the end, takes us back to the beginning where we are not just reliant on others for help, but to God as well.