I was born with a lazy eye and astigmatism. The first four years of my life I wondered around half blind until I got glasses. This opened up a whole new world when I could see. It also put me behind developmentally. I was the slowest or at the bottom in all my classes at school when I was in first and second grade. One year I received an award for reading 1,000 books to my mom and older sisters. The next closest person read only 400 books. I can read today because of my caring family and wonderful teachers.
The second miracle is several years ago I received an Ipod for Christmas. What a blessing it was for me. A few Christmases later I received a smart phone. This allows me to listen to many books each week while I am at work. I have listened to over 300 books and counting. I have always struggled with sitting down and reading the words on the pages of books. Now I can read many amazing books while I am moving around. Find what works for you, then go for it. Enjoy learning. If you can read a book thank a teacher, In my case I will also thank my mom and sisters.
For as long as I can remember, my motto has been to be kind. One of my favorite stories is when I was working at Monroe Elementary as the head custodian. Our school was going to have a Parent-Teacher Conference, which takes time setting up desks and chairs. The conference started at 3:30 p.m. On the same day, we had an assembly that started at 2:30 p.m. It was impossible for me to get ready for the conference. I was frustrated, so I did what I thought would send a message to the secretary and principal for planning things so close together. I went home. My standard quitting time was 2:30 p.m. anyway. The next day, the principal confronted me about leaving before setting up for the conference. Rather than getting upset, I apologized for leaving early. I also agreed I was wrong. I let the air out of her sails when she was ready for a conflict. It is much better to be as kind as possible even when you feel you are right. I like to remember that the smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.
I remember watching film strips as kid. You would put the film strip in the projector and put the cassette tape in the cassette player. You would press play and when you heard the beep you would move the film forward one frame. The film strips told a story on any subject. I thought they were pretty cool.
I also grew up in the day when you could rent reel to reel movies from the library. We watched all kinds of Disney movies at the church and school assemblies. We also watched many adventure movies like Sinbad and the Seven Seas, and Robinson Caruso Those were magical moments.
When I was in 7th grade, digital calculators and digital watches became the big things to buy. I brought my first digital calculator for $10 dollars. This same calculator would cost a dollar today at the dollar store. Before the digital watches were a thing, everyone wore wind up watches with the big and little hands, and most had a hand for the seconds. In Junior High, we would set our watches with the same time as the school clocks so we knew exactly when the bells would ring.
I remember watching video tapes that were only at schools. They were twice as big as a regular video tape. We loved watching a series called Reading Rainbow. It got kids excited about reading different books. I didn’t like reading, but I loved the show. It was a big deal when we got our own VCR video playing machine. We loved watching movies. Movies were expensive to buy at first, so most people just rented them. After a while, videos came down in price so we started buying our favorite movies to watch.
I remember the days when you would put popcorn in a pan with a little bit of grease and pop your popcorn. We ate a lot of popcorn over the years. I remember one of the Boy Scouts brought Jiffy Pop popcorn on a scout camp, and I thought that was amazing. When the popcorn popped, it grew in this pan made of expanding aluminum foil. When you were finished eating the popcorn you threw the disposable pan away. When I was in High School, we got a microwave and loved making microwave popcorn. What a transformation popcorn has made over the years.
In recent years the iPod was fantastic. The fact that you could store all of your music on this little device the size of an iPhone, was a game changer. I started downloading all kinds of books onto my iPod. I have listened to hundreds of books and could listen to my Christmas music in October, and no one had to know. In the last few years, having a smart phone has been wonderful. I have access to the radio, podcasts, a calculator, thousands of photos, all my music, access to the weather, the internet and have a flashlight all in the palm of my hand. The best part is I love to take photos, so I carry my camera everywhere I go. I wonder what inventions will be like in another 5 years. Technology is really starting to blow my mind.
SPECIAL TALENTS As I reflect on some of my special talents, I remember having an unusual memory for birthdays. I remembered the birthdays of all the kids my age and know all my siblings birthdays for as long as I can remember, probably age nine or ten at least. I was always envious of the older kids in my grade in school. Most of the kids had already had their birthdays before mine in May. Ever since I was four or five I could whistle in various ways, my favorite way is whistling through my teeth. I can also whistle blowing air into my thumbs; also blowing air through my lips. I have many fond memories whistling any song I heard. I grew up in a singing family, I love to sing and feel very blessed to to be able to sing everywhere I go. I have been asked to sing in large groups, singing in a few quartets and have sung in several school choirs. Singing solos in church and for funerals is a great honor for me. Singing Christmas songs is a favorite memory. When my older sisters were 13 and 14 they were given a unicycle for Christmas. I enjoyed their gift more then they did. After I wore their unicycle out I was in High School I decided to buy my own to ride. I got pretty good I was going off jumps; going backwards; and down 4-5 stairs at a time. One year I got juggling balls to do with my unicycle. I was okay at juggling but never great. Finally I would say I am a pretty good cook and love making breakfast or any kind of pie for others to enjoy. I think Cassie and myself make a really great team in the kitchen. My favorite time to cook is when someone says “there is nothing to eat” or “ there are no ingredients to make anything for dinner” I can make dinner impossible, possible.
I remember getting new shoes as a kid, and for me it was magical. Growing up with nine siblings makes you realize how precious it was to get new shoes. Growing up in the 60s, and 70s shoes were made to last. They were made of genuine leather. You would usually out grow shoes before they wore out. This is were the shoe box comes into the story. When we out grew our shoes we put them in the big box full of shoes. Mom would say “go down to the shoe box in the basement. You will find shoes you can wear in there.”
We dreaded going to the box for shoes. We secretly hoped the box would not have shoes our size. Mom was usually right. Even when we said there are no shoes our size in the shoe box she would find a pair of shoes she could make work. We would say “sorry mom these shoes fit but they don’t have shoestrings” she would go look in her sewing drawer findingshoestrings. Or we would say “these shoes are all scuffed up” Mom would say “we have lots of shoe polish” We would get those shoes looking like new complete with a spit shine. When you have polished your shoes as good as you can shine them, you spit on them while you keep shining your shoes. These shoes turn into a beautiful masterpiece almost every time.
On rare occasions when the shoe box didn’t have my size my parents would say lets go to Junior Bootery. This was a kids shoe store in the Valley Fair Mall, in West Valley City, Utah near our home. I got so excited when I got to pick out my very own brand new shoes. This store had steps to get us kids up higher onto this platform almost like a mini stage. This is where the store worker would measure out feet with a special shoe measurer to make sure they brought out the right size of shoes. I would usually pick three different pairs of shoes, and the store worker would help me try them on and find the one that felt the most comfortable.
After we decided which pair of shoes I wanted, the store manager would ask me if I wanted to wear my new shoes out of the store or was I putting them back in the box for later? I always said “I want to wear them now.” I was so excited to show everyone my new shoes. It has been fifty years since I last went to Junior Bootery, yet reflect with fondness the joy I felt when I was able to get a pair of brand new shoes.
Don’t be easily offended. Don’t internalize what other people say. If you do, it will effect your emotions in a negative way. In other words, don’t let compliments go to your head or criticisms go to you heart.
I was on vacation a few years ago with my family. My youngest daughter, Jessie, was watching her niece while my oldest daughter Stephanie was checking out of her hotel room. I was walking out to the car with Jessie who was carrying Kelsi in a car seat when a man leaving the hotel, made the comment, “They get younger and younger.”
My daughter and I both thought this man was thinking my 16 year old daughter was the mother of her niece. Jessie said, “This is not my baby. It is my sister’s.” The man replied, “No, I didn’t think that. I was referring to the football the baby was holding.” The man thought it was funny that a one year old was playing with a big football. These are two totally different perceptions of one situation.
I love this picture. Some see a rabbit, some see a duck, and some see both animals. It is all a matter of perspective, and the way you hold the page. Turn the book counter clockwise, and you will see a duck. Turn it back and you see a rabbit.
We all see things from a different angle. If there is an accident with five people watching, we will get five different stories of the same accident. The same is true with life. We all live life from a different perspective. What one person loves, another person dislikes. What someone sees as trash, another person sees as a treasure. When we make assumptions, we will have many disappointments in life.
When I was a kid, I didn’t have very good social skills and was awkward in social settings. I was loud when I should have been quiet, and sometimes shy when I needed to be more outgoing. I remember when I was in 7th grade at Kennedy Junior High, I needed to fart and didn’t hold back making the eruption very loud. In a matter of five seconds I was sitting in the middle of the room by myself because everyone had moved their desks to the outer walls to get away from the smell that I caused. The teacher was shocked, then started laughing at what had just happened. At first I thought it would be funny. Then I got embarrassed. Later, that same year, in the same class the teacher was encouraging all the students to buy books from the Scholastic book club. I remember wanting to buy a book. In the past, in elementary, I never had any money and was envious of the kids that were able to get books. It was like Christmas for everyone else and you got nothing. When I got to Junior High things changed, because I was earning money doing a paper route. I decided to rob my piggy bank. I paid for my book order with money I earned myself all in pennies. I think back on moments like this and think to myself, yes, I was that kid When I was in 7th grade I weighed 77 pounds and was small for my age. I was never the smallest student in my grade, however I was usually the second smallest. I remember in gym class, the coach would pick eight kids to be team captains to pick the teams. I was never the last kid picked but was almost always the second to last one picked. I dreaded gym class, because we were all required to show the coach we were wearing a jock strap. We would line up to take roll, and pull our jock strap down below our shorts to show we were wearing one. After gym we were required to shower everyday. Getting undressed, and being naked in front of your peers was awful and humiliating. Another thing I hated was getting shoved into my locker because I was so little. The lockers were only 8 inches wide and not many kids could fit in their locker, but I could. Seventh grade was definitely a learning experience for me.
I used to hear friends say how excited they were for summer to come because they got to sleep in when school was out. This was not the case for us. My dad was a school teacher, so he was home more in the summer. We would wake up at 6:30 to do our chores, like milking goats, feeding the animals, and picking the fruit or vegetables on our little farm. Whatever was in season, we were picking something. We didn’t have much idle time. After we did our morning chores, we would eat breakfast. It the summer we usually had more time to help mom make good breakfasts like French Toast, biscuits, pancakes, or waffles. To this day, breakfast is one of my favorite meals to make and eat. After breakfast, we would divide up the rest of the chores and have some down time after lunch to play all kinds of card and board games. I think my childhood memories are some of my happiest, because these were simple times. We had a schedule to follow that was a safe space to be in. We were sheltered from the outside world, and we knew we were loved. Was it perfect? No! But it was perfect for us at the time.
I loved my life at home, I feel like I had a very wonderful childhood including gumdrops, lollipops, and unicorns. All kidding aside, I feel blessed to be a part of a great family. My parents taught us how to work hard. There was always time to play games, sing songs, and we loved God. I grew up on a small farm in Hunter, Utah. Now it is called West Valley City where we raised goats, ducks, geese, chickens, pigs, rabbits, quail, pheasants and peacocks. We had a few dogs in the middle of the family chaos, as well. Every spring we started planting crops for our large family. I grew up on 3/4 of an acre. I would say half of this was our huge garden. We started planting peas the end of February and usually finished up with tomatoes and squash the middle of May. My dad was a little bit of a perfectionist when it came to planting, or any job for that matter. He made sure the rows were even and straight. His motto was “Any job worth doing was worth doing right”. I feel like planting was made to be fun, and I looked forward to Spring with excitement. Anything that could grow in our climate we tried at least once, including popcorn, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes. I was not a fan of the latter two mentioned. My mom even tried putting parsnips in the pancake batter, and calling them parsnip fritters, yuck! I just loved our corner of the world. I mostly stayed home. When you have 9 siblings there is always someone to play with. We also had a barn for all of the animals that included a hayloft. Once a year in late spring my dad would fill the loft with hay, stacking the bales in such a way that it would make a private little hideout for us kids. This place had a small tunnel that we would cover up with a piece of hay that blended in with the rest of the bales. It was top secret. The tunnel opened up into a small room made from the hay complete with rope going out a window. The rope made it possible for you to climb out of the loft to the ground. Everyone thought our house was pretty fun. Thinking back on my childhood, Spring was magical. Living on a farm you get to see life and death up close. It was so fun seeing all the baby chicks, ducklings and all the other feathered critters hatch. My dad had a 600 egg incubator and would hatch all kinds of birds for people. He would keep part of the hatched birds as trade for hatching them. Seeing goats give birth to their kids was very educational. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. We would sell most of the goats putting an ad in the newspaper. We children loved feeding the baby goats. We would fill up pop bottles with warm goats milk then put a rubber nipple on the pop bottle, and those goats could drink a bottle in less then a minute. I remember seeing a few still born births. That was always hard to see. This experience helped me appreciate life.
The older I get the more I reflect on my life and realize life is fragile and very short. When I was young, I wanted to to be old. From the time I was 25 and older, I wished I was young again. Now that I am getting close to retirement, I find it easy to wish I could retire. I would like to encourage everyone to enjoy the journey of life and don’t wish your life away.
Always try to look at life with a positive outlook. Life can be really hard with many curve balls thrown our way. When I see someone frowning this reminds me to smile. When I am having a really hard day, I try to do something nice for someone. Doing random acts of kindness is a huge way to boost your spirit as well as helping boost the attitudes of others.
Don’t worry if someone is not doing things the way you think something should be done. We are all trying to figure things out on this planet. There are many choices we make that are not right or wrong. What you think is a bad choice someone else might think is a good one. I think fish is usually disgusting to eat, and for someone else this is their favorite dish.
Positive affirmations work! When I am feeling sick, in my mind I will say “I feel great!” Sometimes I will say affirmations as much as 100 time over and over in my mind. I usually start feeling better. Another affirmation that helps boost my spirit is “I am in the right place at the right time and good things are happening to me.” The power of positive thinking is amazing.
Remember the world does not revolve around you. If is is to be it is up to me, this is one of my favorite sayings. Always ask yourself; what can I do to lighten the load of others? If you want to have a friend be a friend to others. If someone is asking you how you are doing, try to remember they want you to ask how they are doing as well.
There are many different philosophies and religions in the world and we can learn from all of them. Don’t ever make people feel bad about their point of view. My way is right and your way is wrong will not help you make friends and influence people in a positive way.
Don’t take life too seriously. Laughter is medicine for your soul. Always be appreciative of the small acts of kindness others give you. Saying thank you and I love you to the people in your life everyday will improve relationships. Saying I am sorry will make relationships stronger.
The way we dress and the way we talk is a direct refection of who we are as a person and the people we attract into our lives. If we speak kindly of others we will attract kind people into our lives. If you like wearing clothes that reflect professional people, like suits and dresses you will attract that kind of person. If you like wearing more relaxed fitting clothes you will attract more laid back people.
Even when people are unkind, especially family, give them kindness and love in return. Everyone can have a bad day, bad week and even a bad year. Your words will have a lasting effect, so choose your words wisely. When you are in the heat of the moment, remember the words you say can’t be taken back. Before you speak take a break, then talk when your emotions have cooled down.
Always love your parents no matter what! Your parents love you and want what is best for you, even when you don’t think this is true. Spend time with your parents, call them, drop in to say hello, bring them dinner, invite them over to your house. When your parents are gone, you will wish you did more things for them and with them.At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much money we made or how popular we were. It matters how we treated others. Be kind to everyone and always love your family.
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