30 years ago tonight...

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kerry wrote me a song, and played it for me on his guitar, and then he proposed to me. This took place at my apartment, which was then Reams, now "The Colony" in Provo. And so it seemed logical that we should call our parents and let them know the good news...even though it was somewhere in the 11 pm to midnight range. We called the Parks first, since they were in a later time zone, then we called the Rankins. And they had never met Kerry before. Goodness, what were we thinking?

All's well that ends well, and 30 years later, I can still remember the song which started "Dear Ronna, here's a valentine I wrote it just for you..."

Things are different now...Marisa and Doug just got engaged but we've already met and spent time with Doug here and in St. George, already have seen lots of photos as we've been facebook friends for months. With cell phones and the internet, people's parents need never be a stranger to their daughter's new fiancee ever again!

I'm excited for another wedding, another chance to go to the Temple with a child of mine, and another glimpse of heaven. Congratulations to Marisa and Doug, thanks for not calling us at midnight (although we would usually be awake as tonight with 3 of Emily's friends here for a midnight french fry-fest Monday Holiday sleepover.)

Temperatures

Louisville 21
Provo 19
Blackfoot 0
Rexburg -15

Top 10 of 2009

All of the news organizations are doing their top 10 stories of the year, here are mine.

1. Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Thomas being diagnosed with cancer to start the year is the top story this year, and not only because it was so shocking and hard, but because it taught us more than we would have ever known about the power of prayer, faith, medicine, and our resilience as a family unit.

2. Coeur d'Alene Roadtrip. After being tied to Rexburg the whole, long winter and spring for chemo, and into early summer for radiation, Thomas and Caley had the goal to get out of town at long last. Coeur d'Alene was their dream destination, and we decided to join them and make it into a big family trip. Though we were missing Adam and Kyle, the rest of us jumped in the lake, floated down the river, golfed, and celebrated with our gracious North Idaho kinfolk. A spectacular Tubb's Hill cliff diving video featuring Steven can be seen on Veronica's blog.

3. Idaho's Youth Governor. Steven was elected at the Hi-Y convention to represent Idaho as Governor for the 2009-2010 school year, and took a trip in June to Catholic University in Washington D.C. to convene with all of the other national Youth Governors. He also met with Idaho Senators Risch and Crapo. He will preside over the state Hi-Y convention in April.

4. The Hicks's of Kentucky. Somebody had to be the first to do it, the first Park kid to move all far-off away from home. Veronica and Kyle moved to Louisville at the end of August, and Kerry drove back with them and Kyle's dad and a Penske moving van. We miss them, but not right now, because they are here for a long Christmas visit!

5. KSL Internship. Channel 5 in Salt Lake City is the big time, big market, big news station where Marisa completed her Broadcasting internship fall semester of 2009. Bruce and Deenie like her, and so do we. She got good experience in news reporting and producing, and also freeway rush hour driving from Provo to SLC every Tuesday and Thursday.

6. State PTA Convention. In April, Kerry and Emily drove with me to Coeur d'Alene where I presented a workshop and handed out state awards for the PTA Reflections program. It was fun to see family there, and also the woodwork from the Sherman Ave. home we grew up in. I'm in my 2nd year as Idaho PTA Cultural Arts chairperson.

7. St. George Marathon #7. It was a great weekend for a family trip to St. George in October, where I ran my 7th marathon in 7 hours and a minute. Not such a good time as far as running goes, but I wasn't last, I got a medal, and we had a great rental home for the weekend with all but the Kentucky kids there. Infinity pools are fun. Adam finding me between mile 24 and 25 with a bottle of Dasani is a vision I still see in my sleep.

8. Girl's Camp. I was a cook for the Stake, Emily was there, and we had a fun week at Camp Cumorah. Like PTA, this is a 2 year job, so I get to do it again in 2010. I learned that cooking for a lot of people can be fun, but it takes all day, even with my friend Tami in the kitchen too.

9. The Economy. Since all of the major news outlets will have this in their top 10 list, I thought I should too. Kerry's company was not immune to the economic downturn, but thankfully he survived each of the many rounds of layoffs over the course of the year. Many of his co-workers were not so fortunate.

10. Mr. & Mrs. Torres. There weren't any Park weddings this year, but there was a Motola cousin wedding, and we got to travel to the gorgeous Manti Temple with many of our family members from near and far to see Erik sealed to Corinna. This was of course another opportunity for the "girl cousins arranged by hair color" photograph series.

Runners up: Emily became a teenager, BHS boys won state in Football at Moscow with Steven in attendance, another midnight showing of Harry Potter with the Porter-Parks, concerts galore attended by various Parks - Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, David Archuleta - and Huey Lewis at the EISF, knee surgery for both of Kerry's parents and rotator cuff surgery for his Mom (too many curve-balls?), Adam made 2 trips to NYC to see friends, ball games, and famous landmarks, Steven was Jr. Prom royalty, Emily played her first flute solo in Sacrament meeting, Kerry spent a few Saturdays as the chase car for some hang-gliders, and Emily caught some really big fish.

Linger Longer

We got a new hot water heater, 80 gallons. Steven and Kerry hauled it downstairs, and then the next night we had the missionaries for dinner and they made the mistake of asking if there was anything they could do to help our family...so they got to help haul the old heater up the stairs and out into the truck!

But now, we can linger longer in the shower with plenty of hot water for all. It's a good thing.

To Whom

Whom Shall I Serve

Whom shall I serve,
what inner strength have I to give?
To others is the way I live
An evidence that I care?

A pillar of light
Young Joseph in a grove of trees
Found out when he was on his knees
His Father in Heaven cares

And with God
Nothing is impossible
But you must reach and take his hand
With God
Nothing is impossible
Those who have ears to hear
Will understand

The blind could see
The lame man could walk away
And life will change from night to day
When they know that someone cares
When they know someone cares
When they know someone cares

Twenty Six Point Two

It's time to go to bed, the night before the marathon. I am filled with self-doubt and fear and the familiar "what have I done" feeling. It only gets worse on the bus ride 26 miles out of town. It's been a while since I've done this (3 years) so me and my knees are that much older and wiser too.

I just wanted to type in here what the teachers sang to me on Wednesday at the surprise assembly. It was so sweet, unexpected, surprising, and very humbling to have my whole school - staff and students - honor me in this way. So I really, REALLY, have to finish, get my medal, and make them proud. I will think of this song as I run. Kay Sorensen was the composer...you know what tune it's sung to.

while they sang, 26 different children came up and gave me a shoe shaped charm, with one little runner girl for the .2 at the end. I'm wearing that runner girl on my race number - 8012 - tomorrow!

Twenty-six miles to go
Just twenty six miles to go
I'm starting fresh,
I'll do my best
Just twenty-six miles to go.

Twenty-five miles to go
Just twenty-five miles to go
This is a breeze, I'll finish with ease
Just twenty-five miles to go!

Twenty miles to go
Just twenty miles to go
Look around
I'm covering ground
Just twenty miles to go!

Fifteen miles to go
Just fifteen miles to go
My knees are sore
but I can do more
Just fifteen miles to go!

Ten tough miles to go
Just ten tough miles to go
I'm more than half way
and starting to pray
Just ten tough miles to go!

Five aching miles to go
Just five aching miles to go
The sweat pours down
Will I drown?
Just five aching miles to go

Four hurtful miles to go
Just four hurtful miles to go
I'm breathing hard
my brain is jarred
Just four hurtful miles to go.

Three painful miles to go
Just three painful miles to go
I need a drink
I think I stink
Just three painful miles to go

Two endless miles to go
Just two endless miles to go
Why did I commit
to take this trip?
Just two endless miles to go!

One killer mile to go
Just one killer mile to go
The finish line
is almost mine
Just one killer mile to go!

Look at me, look what I did
Look at me, look what I did!
I ran the race
but not in last place
Hey, when can I do this again?

A Perfect Brightness

My blog began, at the suggestion of my sister Kerri, as a way to record my feelings about Thomas having been recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It turned out that many of my feelings on that matter were too tender, spiritual, and deeply personal to blog about. But my blog is named "a perfect brightness of hope" because of this talk by Elder Uchtdorf.

New Year's Eve 2008 was quite a dark day for me, I think I spent the whole day googling "Hodgkin's Lymphoma" and "chemotherapy", and while the prognosis seemed good, there were a lot of frighteningly stark statistics available at the websites I visited. As the clock struck midnight, I just stood there and cried on Kerry's shoulders, unwilling and unable to welcome in the new year which would bring ocologists and chemo into our vocabulary.

I didn't want any of my kids, especially not Thomas and Caley, to see my fears and sorrow, and think that maybe I didn't have faith, because I did. Early on the morning of New Year's Day, I found the conference talk by Elder Uchtdorf entitled "The Infinite Power of Hope." I decided that would be my personal mission statement of the year. I printed it off, and have read it many times this past year. Out of the darkness of New Year's Eve came the brightness of New Year's Day. Out of the darkness of winter came the hopeful spring, and then the warm summer. As a family, we celebrated the end of cancer treatments for our brother and son by jumping in Coeur d'Alene lake on a perfectly bright July day.

Elder Uchtdorf was sustained as an apostle at October Conference, as we watched from out hotel room in St. George, following the marathon in 2004. Five years later, we are going back to the marathon, and I expect that St. George is going to be perfectly bright, once again.