Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Dad's Christmas Message, 2014

December 24, 2014
 
Mom with my two oldest in about 1997!

Last Sunday (three days ago) we had a Sunday dinner at my parent's house. It was our usual Sunday dinner that we have with them each month, but we also gathered because my brother and his family were in town from Idaho. We love it when they are in town! 

I've noticed lately that my Mom doesn't participate in our family conversations much anymore. She either sits quietly or gets up and wanders or works on the dishes. I don't think she's able to follow our conversations very well anymore.  Up until just recently, she would try so hard to follow our conversations, asking many questions, but I'm noticing that's happening less and less. I'm thinking it's because she is now frequently confused about who everyone is.

She did something the other night that I've never seen her do before. As some of us were sitting around the dining room table talking after dinner, I watched her lean up against the wall by the front door with her coat in hand, as if she was waiting for someone and in deep thought. I called her name, "Mom" a few times, with no response whatsoever. She seemed very confused.  After a few minutes I walked up to her and asked her what she was doing. She told me that she was wanting to go home, but that "he" (my Dad) would not take her. "I'm so tired and want to go home and he won't take me home." I tried to explain to her that she was in fact home, and even took her into her room to show her that she was home where she should be. I was not successful at all in convincing her. She told me that she had just been staying there and was tired and ready to go home. As I could feel my emotions start to emerge about the whole situation, a great distraction occurred.  My cousin who just returned home from her mission last week showed up at our door!  She was just dropping by to say "hello" and I was so thankful for her and her good timing. Thanks Mary!  That got my Mom's mind off the subject of wanting to go home and we continued to have a good night. My Mom even participated in singing with us around the piano . . as she's always done. 

Here is a short video of some of us singing "Silent Night" . . . 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zgc26_2Dio&list=UUFD4QSKeAsJKcxdHYDIF-5w    

Earlier on that Sunday, my Dad spoke in their Sacrament Meeting during their choir Christmas program. I was sad to miss it, but was also participating in my own Christmas meeting in my own ward.  My sister told me all about his talk and I was anxious to get my hands on a copy of it! Of course my Dad made me a copy . . . and I read it right away. I love the message and great reminders to us . . . of what in the world this earth life is all about! Here it is . . .

      "One day, in the distant past, each of you attended a meeting, or perhaps a series of meetings. You can’t remember these sessions because they happened before you came to earth, when you were in the life before this one—they happened during your premortal life.  In those meetings, your Heavenly Father and perhaps his Son Jesus Christ, or someone they designated, met with you. They explained what lay ahead for you here on earth. Much of what you learned in those sessions was exciting. But it seems likely there were also some parts of what you learned that were frightening. For example, you were told you were going to earth to learn and be tested. And the purpose of this earth is to give you the opportunity to be judged worthy to return home to live forever in the celestial heaven with your heavenly parents, with your Lord Jesus Christ, and with all members of your extended family who are also successful in earning their way back. The thing that likely frightened you, and all of your friends who were with you in those sessions, was that not all of you would be successful in earning your way back home. Some of you would lose track of your eternal goal and be carried away by things of the world. Your success in the world would become more important to you than your yearnings to make your way back home.
          The purpose of my talk today is to remind you that there is someone who is even more concerned and apprehensive than you are about your getting to return home. In fact, the very purpose of his life and work is to make sure you get there (Moses 1:39). This person is deeply committed to do anything he can to encourage and inspire you to keep eternal things uppermost in your mind. Who is he? You’ve already guessed that he is the very person whose birth we celebrate today. He is Jesus Christ, our elder spirit brother and our Lord and God. Today, I’m going to tell you briefly three important things about this individual you must remember. I don’t want you to remember them just today, but it’s vital that you remember them every day.
High school cheerleading days at East High in the late 50's!

His love for you. The first thing I want to tell you is what happens in his heart when he thinks about you. For several years, while our kids were still at home, each spring, Merrilee and I would begin to plan our summer vacation. I remember several times when Merrilee would say to me: “I’ve decided what we should do this summer. Let’s just load up all our kids in the van and set off down the road. It doesn’t even matter where we go. The important thing is that we will all be there in the car together. We can stay in motels. We can talk and share experiences. While we’re with them, we can be sure that all of them are safe and we can hug and interact with each of them any time we want. I really think that sounds fun, don’t you?  What do you think?" I would usually respond by saying, “. . . Really?  Are you sure?” I must admit that I always wondered why my ideas of a good vacation were different than my wife’s. I always concluded that it was just the difference between the mother and the father.
          There is no doubt that there is nothing quite like maternal love. It seems that each mother develops a profound insight and an intense attachment to her children soon after they are born. I think this unique maternal love is a special revelation provided each and every mother. The intimate and true identity of every child is revealed to her at about the same time she begins to bond with her infant child. And she never forgets that knowledge and insight. Fathers love their children too, but their approach sometimes seems to be a bit more practical.
          So what about the Savior? We certainly know that he is all man. No one is tougher or more manly than he is. Yet, I have to reveal something about him to you. I hope he’s not embarrassed or angry with me for pointing this out. Listen to this account, and tell me whether you think it sounds like it’s describing a father or a mother? This individual one day sat on a hill overlooking the city of Jerusalem and spoke to the people of Jerusalem. This is what was said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often would I have gathered [thee] together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).  This person yearned to gather his or her children close around him or her, like a hen gathers her chicks. He or she would then know they are secure and safe. Well, you already know who this hen was . . . our Lord Jesus Christ. His love for us is just like a mother’s love but even more perfect.
          The fact is that he loves you as an individual more than you can even understand with your mortal mind. While you may learn hints of how he feels, you cannot actually completely understand his love for you. He desperately wants you home with him forever. There are billions and billions of people who have lived on this earth, but he does not love you just because he loves all these billions and billions. The fact is—and we’re not yet given to understand how he does this—he loves you as an individual and knows you intimately. He knows your name and everything about you. 
          We have reason to believe that the very purposes of his life have little to do with bettering himself. He is fixated on you and your situation. He yearns to have you home one day to live with him forever. The rules of mortality don’t allow him to appear directly to you, but he would have you know that he is always there, right alongside of you. And he has requested that the Holy Ghost make it possible for you to feel that presence from time to time as you wish.
          The metaphor of the walled city.  The second thing you must remember about him is that he has very cleverly placed each of you here today in a particular situation. And again, it is to ensure that you one day will come home to him. This situation is called “a ward.”  A ward?  Am I referring to the Monument Park 12th Ward? I am. Let me tell you just how he sees this ward and all other wards.  This is made clear in the Old Testament where he uses a metaphor or symbol of the ward to teach its importance.
          In the world, there rages a clamoring of turmoils, evils, and dangers. The people “on the streets” of this world are buffeted and manipulated and constantly placed in physical, emotional, and spiritual danger. It is not safe to be out in this world. But there is in this world a city with very thick, impenetrable, and secure walls. This city represents the Monument Park 12th Ward, or any ward. When you enter the ward, you enter the city. The heavy door shuts behind you, and all the dissonant noises cease. You notice that there is a quiet spirit of peaceful security in this fortified city. Those who are already there greet you warmly and minister to your needs. They want you to feel comfortable, safe, and loved. They will repeatedly remind you of the rules to make certain you remain in this type of environment throughout your time on earth. In this city you will become just like them. The other people there become more important to you than you are to yourself. You come to want to always be with them and be like them. And you don’t want that relationship to ever end.
          While the wards in the Church may sometimes fall short of this ideal, I want you to know that I personally, over the past almost 40 years in this ward have found this metaphor to be true here in our ward. I cannot adequately describe to you the depth of my experiences and my feelings for you, my ward family.  For those of you as old as I am, we’ve grown old together and we’ve had, at times, to cling to each other to get through it all. I’m profoundly grateful for all you have done for me and for my family and I want to live with you forever. And this is just exactly the way the Lord wants it. In his own spiritual way, he is a member of our ward and enfolds all of us in his arms.

          His understanding of you and your situation is perfect. Just one further thing about him. And for this last characteristic, he paid an unbelievable high price. He understands and empathizes with you in your individual and unique situation perfectly. He knows and feels your joys, your problems, your misgivings, your adversities, your worries, your tragedies, your sorrows. And he doesn’t know these things because he has read about them or because he was told about them or because he observed them. He knows them because he has personally experienced every one of them. For about 21 hours in the Garden of Gethsemane and nailed to a cross at Calvary, his Father—our Heavenly Father—orchestrated a desperately dreadful experience that finally caused Jesus's death. We refer to this as his atoning sacrifice, and he had previously freely agreed to suffer it. And because of it, he has perfect empathy and intimately understands each of us.
Wedding day - July 31, 1964
          Does this mean he knows the loneliness of those who don’t fit in or don't feel handsome or pretty? Does he know what it’s like to choose up teams and be the last one chosen? Does he know the anguish of parents whose children go astray? Does he know the private hell of the physically, emotionally or sexually abused child or spouse? Has he experienced profound depression or anxiety? Does he know what it’s like to be bereaved of a loved one? Has he experienced the pain of losing one’s job and being unable to support a family? Has he experienced every physical agony and fear associated with terminal diseases? Has he suffered extreme starvation? Has he experienced the degradation of profound addiction? Does he know the indignity and despair of slowly becoming profoundly demented? He does. He does.
          Please believe me when I say that—today at this Christmas season and every day for the rest of your mortal life—he is there right next to you. He would take you in his arms and hug you if the conditions of mortality allowed. You are literally never alone, and there is no companion quite like him."

May we remember these things . . . and the reason for the season!  Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Mom's first and last journal entries!

December 16, 2014

Almost our whole gang at my youngest's football championship game, Nov 2014
I have spent some time in the last month or so reading through my Mom's journals from the last half of her life. My Mom is 71 years old now, and when she was 34, she started keeping a journal. It's possible she may have kept a journal as a child but if so, I haven't found those yet. In my possession are three of her journals: 2 full journals and one that is about half full, the first one starting in the year 1978, when I was nine years old.  Here is the first paragraph of her first journal entry from March, 1978:

"Claiming no literary genius, I begin this journal just to jot down my daily thoughts and actions so that #1 I may pause each day to express my feelings, #2 As a remembrance of my middle years, and #3 As an insight for my future generations as to what emotions, problems and joys a 34 year old mother of 5 feels in 1978."

Since I have run out of my own past journal entries about my journey with my Mom and her Alzheimers disease, I think I will now start including journal entries from her journals . . . to give you a glimpse into her active, productive, challenging, joyful, service-oriented, full and wonderful life!  My fear is that her first 60 years of life will be forgotten because of the decline in her mind in the last 10+ years.  Will my kids only remember her for her memory loss and forgetfulness?  I want to make sure that friends and family remember her good old days!  

Her journals are filled with fabulous and priceless nuggets that reveal her true, awesome self, and here are just a few examples: 

April 24, 1978:  ". . . we just spent family home evening with Grandma Margaret and Grandpa Bill, eating turkey dinner in honor of Patricia's (my aunt's) birthday.  After coming home and working on my mutual lesson on temple marriage, I have realized what a short period of time this earth life really is - so many trials and tests.  If we only could keep this "temporary earth life" perspective always, so that we might make the most of our time and appreciate life -- curb our anger, offer love more freely, etc.  I'm so grateful for my knowledge and testimony of the gospel!"

April 4, 1981:  "I don't express often enough how grateful I am for all of my blessings - particularly my children and husband and the church.  If I could ever have one wish, it would be to have all of us live so that we can be together always. I pray that my children might have testimonies and marry in the temple. But more than marrying in the temple, that they might feel the satisfaction of an eternal and happy family themselves. I also pray for motivation for my children -- motivation to develop talents, to do well in school, to be honest and hard working, and to also be sensitive and kind and of service to others.  In the case that my children (and grandchildren) might read this someday when I am dead, I hope you will be turned outward and not inward, not always worrying about yourself, but others. This is hard to do unless your self esteem is high and you feel good about yourself, and then thoughts are more easily turned to others. Do for others constantly.  It's 12:20am and I'm tired . . . my message is not eloquent, but sincere.  I love you kids, and your father!"

As my Mom started showing signs of her disease in 2001-2002, only six pages of journal has been written since that time. Those six entries are different than the rest.  Her handwriting is pretty much her same, pretty cursive handwriting, but the entries are not as organized, things are crossed out, arrows are pointing to other pages, topics jump around quite a bit and they are not as thorough as the years before. For example, instead of giving an update of the whole family, she only gives updates of a few of us kids. Here is her last sobering entry, written in January, 2009 . . .

January 6, 2009
"I am frightened that I am losing my memory like my Dad did at age 50.  It is frightening to say the least.  I don't want to be a vegetable in a healthy, strong body.  I am only 66!  That used to seem old but doesn't anymore. :)  I guess I will just have to trust in the Lord."

This makes me sad to know how much she probably feared this disease in private!  I can only imagine her fear of what this disease would bring in her future! 

At this point in her disease, her abilities to read and write and dress and do her own hair and make up are gone and I know that my Mom would not remember most of the experiences she has written about in these journals. Her memories are slowly but surely dying, and interestingly, especially the ones from the last 40+ years! The memories that seem most clear to her are of the time she was younger and living with her parents, with the gully in her backyard, and when she was in high school and young and looking for a job. Currently she talks frequently about wanting to find a job, wanting to go explore in the gully and about her Mom and Dad. 

Reading these journals brings up so many emotions and feelings. I've always known my Mom to be a service-oriented, loving, happy, caring person, and I love to remember the good times and read about all that, but I also like to read about her struggles, her disappointments, frustrations, and sad moments. She was so normal and I can relate to her in so many ways . . . the stress, the joys, the good and the bad.  It makes me feel that maybe my life of the ups and the downs is pretty normal too!  

I want to make sure her life in her good, healthy years is never forgotten! If my Mom were in her normal mind, I have a feeling she would tell you that she was not perfect by any means, and she would probably even say that she made many mistakes along the way, but to me, she will always be one of my greatest heroes.  I hope to one day be the loving, caring person she has always been! 

Living in San Francisco in the early 70's
I continue to go on a weekly outing with my Mom . . . most weeks.  We have lucked out with the weather and usually manage to squeeze in a walk or hike most of the time.  We both love to be outdoors and the weather has cooperated beautifully so far.  We have been on some great adventures!

I continue to see small turns for the worse every time I see her.  I've seen her put her coat on inside out or upside down and she'll have simply no idea that anything is wrong. Her sense of style is completely gone, as she will be found wearing my Dad's gym socks and  her tennis shoes with nicer pants and doesn't seem to care a bit. "It will be fine," she says.  (My Dad is doing a great job helping her dress and do her hair by the way.)  She accuses friends and close family of stealing her shoes and other items and can not be convinced otherwise.  She makes up stories about things that she has done and I'm often left to wonder how much of her stories are true, or where these stories are coming from?  A few weeks ago she was telling me that she went down to "Mike's Tennis", where she has often played tennis, and she "played this funnest game . . kind of like water tag where you run around and chase each other."  She wanted me to go down and play with her.   


Field trip to Hogle Zoo - Fall 2014
I'm sure that I don't even know the half of what really goes on at their house with my Dad and my sister.  I think they probably keep a lot from me, as not to worry me, but I'm sure their stories are endless. 

My Dad often gets calls from caring neighbors that see my Mom out walking by herself, just making sure that my Dad knows where she is.  There was an incident over Thanksgiving weekend where she walked away and got lost and after an hour or two, my Dad felt he had no other choice but to call the police to help them in their search. That's the first time that has happened, and I hope the last! Luckily I didn't hear about it until later that afternoon, and all turned out for the best!   

My Mom is forgetting even us close family members and often seems confused as to who we all are.  Although I feel like most of the time she remembers me, she will sometimes ask me questions out of the blue like "What is your full name?" and "How many kids do you have?" "Where did you grow up?" or "Where do you live?"  

On frequent occasions I can tell that my Mom has no idea who someone is, but her social graces are still intact and she continues to fake it pretty well.  She is usually her friendly self and doesn't want to inconvenience anyone or hurt anyone's feelings.  "I can't believe you drive all the way here to come be with me!" she says.  "You are so nice to do that.  I know you have a lot to do! " Her sense of humor is still quite good too and she understands a lot of jokes.  I guess that part of her brain is still doing great, thank goodness! 

Well, there you have it . . . a little update about my great Mom!  Sorry for the big gap between this blog entry and the last!  Happy Holidays to you all!