Hey Sweetie!
How's my favorite missionary? I hope you made it to Spokane Valley. How is your new area? Is it the area with the AP's and President? Who is your companion and where is he from?
Well, I made it through my death and dying class--it was a killer…ha,ha (pun intended). I would say that it was more emotionally challenging than it was hard. Each day we covered about 3-4 chapters, we had several guest speakers, and we wrote 3 papers a day. It sounds like a lot, but it reallys wasn't bad. The guest speakers were real good! They basically came and "told their story". The first day we didn't have a guest speaker. We did however have to write our own eulogy. That was interesting. They had a bunch of questions for us to answer. It was very thought provoking…here are the questions:
- What do you want people to remember about you?
- What do you want to be said about you?
- What stories would you like told?
- What memories do you want to leave?
You should try to answer them. It was interesting. It made me think about what I WANT people to remember about me. It made me rethink some of my long term goals. Live so that people will remember me the way I would like them to. :) Tuesday we had hospice people come and talk to us. For some reason, that just didn't do it for me. I don't think that I am supposed to go into hospice--I just don't know where I am supposed to go. Anyhow, for our journal, we had to write about our experience with someone dying. I wrote about grandma. I cried the whole time I was writing it. Jessica told me that I should save it so that you kids could read it later--actually, she thought I should keep all of the journals that I had to write for this class. In some ways, I think it was very healing, even though I was emotionally drained!
On Wednesday, we talked about grieving, death in children and adolescents, and children who lose parents or siblings. This was a tough one!! We had 2 speakers come and talk to us. I wanted to cry the whole time! The first one had a son who lived up in Greeley. He came down to the Springs to visit with her. He had complained about being tired, but it really wasn't out of the ordinary (busy college student). They said their goodbyes and he started his journey back to Greeley. She received a phone call informing her that he fell asleep and was in a BAD accident. They told her that she needed to get to Denver ASAP. When she got there, he look horrible. They said that if his brain hemorrhaged, it would be over. As she watched him, she noticed that tears were coming out of his eyes--but it was blood---he was hemorrhaging. The team was getting prepared to do CPR--she tried to tell her ex-husband that they should let him go. After a little bit, he agreed and told them to let him die. I cannot imagine the pain of losing a son! I was surprised that she was able to tell her story without crying! It happened last October--I think she is still in shock! The other speaker was an 18 year old girl whose father died when she was 12 years old. He was a stay at home dad since the mom was in the Airforce. He ended up with brain cancer. At 12, she stood on the stairs in her house and watched him die. She withdrew from everyone. She said that she didn't even tell her friends in school that her dad died. She was a junior in high school when she told a friend that her father died. Her friends were shocked! She and her family did family counseling. She did a great job, but she was fighting back tears the whole time.
Remember how I said that they talked about grieving and small children. They said that infants grieve when they lose a parent. There are studies that show that these kids act out usually when they are older--with drugs, behavior issues, etc. I thought of Curtis. He lost his sister, Rachael, when he was 18 months old. They were very close as siblings. He would ask Cindy where Rachael was all the time. I wonder if some of his issues--alcohol, drugs, problems with relationships, etc. are a result of this "complicated grieving". In the journal for that evening, I wrote about Little Richard and Rachael's death--yep, I cried through it!
Thursday was on suicide. Our teacher did not teach because her son committed suicide last November. The teacher/speaker was a former nursing student (she graduated)…while in class preparing to do a presentation, then start finals…the teacher was late. Everyone was getting antsy, and they just wanted to get the presentations done and over with. After a while, the teacher came in and called her out. She took her to a room where there was a police officer, the school counselor, and a couple of other teachers--with a cell phone on the table. She said she knew before she even reached for the cell phone. Her father had committed suicide. She felt like she had to be the strong one. Her mother and sister were falling apart at every turn. She talked about the difficulties associated with it, and was able to get counselling. Later, the suicide prevention team came in and spoke to us. (I had trouble staying awake for that one, ha,ha).
Friday, we had a field trip to a funeral home. It was fun in a sick sort of way. They really emphasized the importance of pre-planning. I don't think your dad is ready for that though..ha,ha. They had us sort of "plan" our funeral..ha,ha. They had a bunch of questions to answer. It was weird but fun. I can honestly say that I am glad it is over. We had a group project that we turned in this morning and then we have to grade everyone else's projects. Then I will be done…woo hoo!! I am not taking any other classes this summer.
This Friday, I will be flying to Arizona. I get to attend Gracie's baptism. :) Then I will drive back on Monday with Grandpa. I am going to try to write, but if I don't, you will know it is because I was unable to. I can't see that happening, but just in case!
Wow, this is long. I will add some pictures for you….Tiffany comes home Tuesday--YEAH!!!!
Pictures are brought to you by Danny :)
Shopping with mom and Aunt Tiffany.
Chillin' with my Aunt Tiffany
Waking my Aunt Tiffany up for snuggles!
Me snuggling my mom.
Swimming with my Mommy and Auntie
Aren't they pretty! You can sure tell they are sisters!
Well, I sure love you! I hope you are enjoying your new area. I look forward to hearing from you. If this was too long, let me know and I will mail it to you (if you want that, I need your address)
I love you!!
Mom
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