THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Nature and Heritage

Guest Post -

On Memorial Day I asked Ron to take me to Hobble Creek Canyon where my Grandma Belle was born 120 years ago this month.  We packed a picnic, blanket, pillows (and of course, 2 Cokes on ice), and headed to the hills east of Springville.  May is simply gorgeous in Utah.  The green is returning to the trees; the sun is soothing yet not searing, the pull of winter is lifting and a sense of revival is present everywhere.  As we spread our blanket and got settled in, I felt surrounded by nature, which gave me a sense of peace; and surrounded by my heritage, which gave me a sense of strength.

On Thursday night Ron and I delivered flowers to the graves of our loved ones in the valley, freeing up Monday for out trip to Hobble Creek.  After hitting three cemeteries, we ended up with two extra plants, so we took them to the graves of my two great-great grandfathers who are buried in the Springville City Cemetery.  Aaron Johnson settled Springville, bringing the first wagons into the valley in 1850.  He died in 1877.  Levi Curtis was a beloved pioneer fiddler who died in 1916.  Neither of these graves had been decorated with flowers so it felt good to remember them in this way.  My grandma told me stories about these two men my entire life.  I don't know if cancer was a big deal back in 1847, but Aaron buried his first wife and first child with Cholera within 10 days of each other.  Levi Curtis played his fiddle for all the danced back in those days.  Grandma Belle herself buried two children with birth defects and a husband with a ruptured appendix all by the age of 29.  I am sure that through enduring these trials, they developed courage and a strong sense of perspective.

I was reading recently in a magazine and came across a quote by President Joseph Fielding Smith that reads, "...I believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond... can see us better than we can see them;  that they know us better than we know them... We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever.  For they see the dangers that beset us;  their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves."  As I read these thoughts, my mind traveled back to December of 2008, where I sat in stunned silence while the doctors conducted a biopsy on my left breast to check for breast cancer.  Suddenly, I had an absolutely delicious sense of peace settle over me and I KNEW I was getting emotional support from a source unseen.  In fact, I remember thinking to myself, "If it feels this way to die... bring it on!"  I felt certain that my diagnosis would be positive, but also felt a strong almost tangible assurance that all would be well.  Things played out that way and I am now cancer free.  I will always know in my heart that members of my family who passed on many years ago surrounded me on that stressful day to reassure me that all would be well.  I could literally FEEL them around me.

I will always love the month of May because my sense of heritage and love for my ancestors comes clearly into focus.  They kept on through Cholera, birth defects, and a multitude of other maladies, setting a pattern for me to follow through illness, death of loved ones, cancer or whatever challenges might lie ahead.

-Kathy Christensen
Survivor
Member, Lifting Hearts