Farewell to a Good Girl

I will always have my dad to thank for bringing us together my junior year of high school.

It all started with trips to and from school everyday.

A couple of times you helped me drop packages on boys' doorsteps asking them to school dances.

We stayed out of trouble on the weekends having lots of fun.


There are moments that I have shared with you and no one else.

We got to go to college together and I remember driving on campus the first day, nervous but excited.

You came with me when I went to tell that boy that it really was all over, and you were waiting for me when I came out.

And you were there the night I pulled over in rainstorm, certain that no one else could hear, and screamed at the top of my lungs in utter desperation to have my life as I knew it back during a particularly difficult battle with depression.

My relationship with God grew as we took early morning trips to the Bountiful temple and I would ponder my relationship with Him on the way home.

You were there the first time Danilo kissed me (the first time in my life I truly saw fireworks).

You overheard our conversations as we discussed what kind of future we wanted to have together.

My getting married didn't change anything between us.

While Danilo* wasn't sold at first, it didn't take long for him to appreciate you as much as I did.

We went to internships and job interviews

and together to my first day teaching school.

A couple of years later when Gracie joined us, you were familiar to her too.

We never went to the grocery store or story time without you. 


You lived with us everywhere we lived, your accommodations were better at some places than others.

Last Saturday you drove away.

Happily I know it's to a good home.

He might not listen to country music or enjoy Josh Groban

but he goes to the same high school I did,

so in some ways you're going right back to where we started.

You were loyal and true and will always occupy a special place in my heart.

I will always feel a certain camaraderie with anybody who drives by in a Geo Prizm

because we most likely have a similar appreciation for what a dang good car they are.  

Thanks for the memories sweetheart.

I love you.

(Sorry so sappy. I really care about this car.)

*Danilo had a harder time letting the Geo go than I did. "Can't we just keep it?" He is proud when he tells people that changing the clutch was the only major repair we made on her in the 6 1/2 years we've been married.

5th Saturday of Seven

There once was a campaign run on the idea of free handouts. It was mine. For my speech at the campaign assembly, I shared several reasons why you should vote for me which all related back to candy bars, and then the candy was tossed into the crowd ("your vote for me will make this the best school in the Milky Way!"). And while I had a few reasons for running, like being a positive example to my peers and being involved in school events, one in particular was very appealing: the Longhorn sweater with my name on it.

You may laugh at my bangs for three seconds. Okay. That's enough.

Yes, we were the orange and black Longhorns. At night during campaign season as I lie in bed, I would envision wearing the sweater on game days and assembly days, sometimes as a jacket, sometimes around my waist, sometimes out in public so people would see me and say, "She must be a class officer at her school." Kind of shallow, I know.

I was reading 1 Kings in the Bible a few months ago and found a verse that describes a truer and nobler form of leadership. Rehoboam has just replaced his father Solomon as king and seeks counsel from the elders as to how to run the kingdom. This was their answer:

...be a servant unto this people this day...
1 Kings 12:7

Unfortunately, Rehoboam didn't like that answer. Instead he counseled with his friends, who suggested he impose greater burdens on the people. Sadly, to his detriment and the kingdom's, he followed the advice of the young men.  "Whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

Fortunately in the United States of America, we have a choice.
   

It is my belief that Mitt Romney is not running for president to serve his personal interest.

 I really believe that. I believe that he is a man of good character. My last two posts have discussed why I think he's qualified for the job and this one will discuss why I think we have an extraordinary choice before us: a man who will use his qualifications for the right reason, which is to serve the people of the United States of America.

Serving others is part of who Mitt Romney is. His record indicates that. I have made it clear that I am not voting for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon. But because he and I have that in common, it does give me an interesting perspective.

Mitt Romney served as a Mormon missionary. I am not familiar with the particular details of Mitt Romney's mission other than that he served in France, but my dad and my husband served missions (Australia and Orlando, Florida), and my sister-in-law just left to serve in Guatemala this very week.

Hugging her sister goodbye as my sister-in-law embarks on her 18 month mission

Here's what I can tell you about missionaries. They leave their home sometime in their late teens to early twenties to serve the Lord and the people of the area to which they are called. They are gone for 18 months (women) to two years (men). They put college and career plans on hold. They pay their own way. If they serve for the right reasons, they come back better, more selfless people having had an experience that will positively influence the rest of their lives. How could it not? I am going to assume that Mitt Romney's case was no different.  

Mitt Romney, like active members of his faith, also served the children, youth and adults of his congregation. He later served as a stake president, as did my grandfather. As a granddaughter I witnessed the magnitude of responsibility associated with that particular calling. Here is a Wikipedia summary of Mitt Romney's leadership roles in the Mormon faith:

From 1986 to 1994, Romney presided over the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen wards in eastern Massachusetts with almost 4,000 church members altogether. An unpaid position, his local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time, and he became known for his considerable energy in the role,
 

A number of local church members later credited him with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times. Romney later said that the years spent as an LDS minister gave him direct exposure to people struggling financially and empathy for those with family problems.

  [Wikipedia, "Mitt Romney: Local LDS Leadership", abridged]

Examples of church service have dominated this blog post because of my Mormon perspective, but Mitt Romney's desire to serve extends beyond his faith. Of his decision to run the Olympic Games of 2002, Mitt Romney said, "Ann and I felt it was the right thing to do....It was the spirit of public service that attracted me." When the Olympics were over, he donated the severance pay he earned for his work to charity.

This well-written blog post has a compilation of other good works done by Mitt Romney. I love author's last paragraph: "You may choose to dislike Romney’s politics, his policies, his ham-handed speeches. But what a better country we would have if half the people attacking him now could compile half of the list above."

One thing that strikes me about these stories being told is that Mitt Romney is not telling them himself. Other people are telling them for him. That tells me he did these acts of service not for recognition, but because it was the right thing to do. Personally, it all makes me want to be a better person, a sentiment I'm not used to feeling when dealing in politics. What a quality for a president to possess.

Is it time to vote YET?!

Unlike King Rehoboam from the Bible, I believe if Mitt Romney is elected the next president of our country, he would view himself as "a servant unto [the] people." Unlike the people of King Rehoboam's kingdom, we as the American people have the choice in whom we will vote for. Use it wisely.

Taking part in a nobler campaign than the one I ran in 1998.

I will continue to post a reason I am voting for Mitt Romney each Saturday until the election. If you don't agree with me, that's okay. I've actually had some really good conversations with people through the course of this project whose opinions differ from mine but who I respect immensely.

However, if you feel like it's the right thing to do, please help me extend my reach by sharing these posts through email, Facebook and Pinterest. Thank you!

P.S. There is a presidential debate this Monday. Watch it. More information here. 

P.S.#2. This video is worth your time.

Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

4th Saturday of Seven

In 7th grade, my world as I knew it came to a screeching halt. After 10+ years in a neighborhood where all the kids had assumed the privilege of running between each others yards and where kick-the-can tournaments had been held for countless summers, my dad announced that we were building a new home. The main reason was because the little gray home we had built in 1987 was bursting at the seams since my little brother had been born. I shed many tears during the process, some warranted, some, slightly dramatic, but none so much as the night we pulled away from the gray house with the beautiful bay window for the last time.

Our new home was beautiful. It was larger and more expensive than the first, and it was surrounded by other larger and more expensive homes. The idea hadn't phased me much, but at the dinner table, all of us in the family who were old enough would report being told by a coworker or a classmate or two, "Good luck on snob hill."

Such statements caused me to approach our new neighborhood with some apprehension. However, it truly all dissolved when we received the warmest of welcomes at our arrival. There were in this neighborhood, as in the first, good neighbors. In the eight years I lived there until I married, I can name many people from that area who had a hand in shaping me for the better during impressionable growing up years. Hard times hit our family and people from that neighborhood rallied around us during dark hours. I was also moved to see the way some of the families in that area used the wealth they had acquired in their medical practices and law firms and small businesses to quietly but generously bless the lives of others.

I am not saying my experience will be the case in every upscale neighborhood, but I am saying that in many instances, wealth does not equal arrogance. In many instances, individuals who possess wealth also possess the virtues of hard work, persistence, the determination to forge through difficult times, and ultimately the ability to be successful. And many remember to help others.

This is the case with Mitt Romney.

There have been several attempts during this campaign to associate Mitt Romney's success in the business arena with greed and to try to disconnect him from the American people, when actually, he is a true representation of an individual pursuing and attaining the American dream. These attempts to create a gap between the rich and the poor are unnerving and unAmerican. 

This is what Ann Romney had to say about it:

 "It amazes me to see his history of success actually being attacked. 

Are those really the values that made our country great? 

As [moms].. do we want to raise our children to be afraid of success?

Do we send our children out in the world with the advice, 'Try to do... okay?'"

Read the whole speech here.
Watch it here.

I am voting for Mitt Romney because he is a successful businessman. He was the CEO of a business consulting firm that took struggling companies and turned them around. And they were successful at it. That means he understands what is good for businesses. And he understands how to take things that are in trouble and turn them around.

Is it time to vote YET?

At the height of his success at the firm he was asked to take over the 2002 Winter Olympics, without compensation, and he left. And he decided he wouldn't go back after three years and try to pick up the reins again. He would leave it to those who had stayed behind.   

Yes, wealth can corrupt men and women.  But I have seen through the example of my neighbors what it can do in the hands of good people. I love how Ann Romney describes their experience of choosing to share what they have with others, "It's given us the deep satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined."

I repeat, to take people who have used their knowledge and resources and through ingenuity and hard work have made better lives for themselves, their families, and others, and cast them as villains in the story of America is unAmerican. I am voting for Mitt Romney because he is a successful businessman who understands how to take organizations that are in trouble and get them thriving again. 
 
I will continue to share a reason I am voting for Mitt Rommey each Saturday until the election. If you don't agree with me, that's okay. I have friends who are very dear to me who don't see politics the way I do. But if you feel good about it, please use your reach to share these posts through email, Facebook, and Pinterest.

How will you make a difference in this election?

This is Mr. Collado after registering to vote this week. While I ran around my little gray house playing kick-the-can, he was living in one-bedroom apartments with his mom and sisters. He often expresses gratitude for the opportunities America has provided him, and what it has provided his mom who worked so hard to keep them fed and clothed. Today he has a bachelor's degree, works as an MRI technologist, and we purchased our first home a year ago. Needless to say, I am very proud of him.

P.S. There is a presidential debate this Tuesday. Watch it. More information here.

A Month Ago Today was a Really Happy Day

So we dressed up really nice

because my sister was marrying

the love of her life.

Lots of special people came to town,
Colin's family from Indiana, Aunt Paula from California, and

Kelli (Arizona), Rakel (Sweden) and Joe (Missouri) to name a few.

and we may have thrown the most successful

Utah Mormon wedding dance party known to...Utah

(oh, you thought you were here to

shake some hands, grab some cheesecake

and run? Get your hands in the air!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sOYvVtB43k

And so ended the summer that I went from

no brothers-in-law to three.

I am so thankful for these people.

2nd Saturday of Seven

Thanks for returning to this 2nd Saturday of Seven.

One of the reasons I set out to do this was because I have heard people express a desire to be more informed and involved in the political process but they feel like it's just too much of a nasty business. 

And they would be right. Some aspects of politics are really ugly. People write really nasty things about individuals or collective groups or parties in the newspaper and especially on the internet. The language gets as bad as a jr. high hallway. I'll be honest, around June or July I could start to sense the onslaught of how ugly this was going to get and I was ready to go into hiding from any news media online or otherwise until November was through. Is it fair though, that those who fight so dirty can intimidate the rest of us into ignorance?

No, it's not. This decision is just too important. 

I encourage you to elevate yourself above the garbage, the cynicism, the name-calling and negativity. Rather than settle with being disgusted, look for other outlets that will provide you the information you're looking for. And do NOT read the conversations below any of the campaign YouTube videos. Yeah, that will ruin your day.

Every Saturday up to the election I am posting a reason why I have chosen to cast my vote the way I have. If you if you feel like it's the right thing to do, please share these posts through email 

and on Facebook with friends and family in your state and out of your state whose vote

is undecided or maybe even decided.

 

I was kind of taken aback the first time I heard it.

"I am not voting for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon."

 

 Well, I'm not voting for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon, either.

A few years ago, I was in a class for teachers. At one point, the discussion turned to the Civil Rights Movement and how much has changed in our country because of individuals like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, and you bet the fact that we had just elected our first black president was mentioned. We talked about how much our views had changed for the better because an event like that had been able to take place.

Then a woman raised her hand and said, "Did you see the map the night of the election? Did you see how red Utah was?" (referring to how our electoral votes did not go to Barack Obama). She scoffed and then finished, "What does that say about people around here and how far we haven't come?"

Ho ho ho ho (that's the sound I make when I need to gather my thoughts).

The presenter looked fairly uncomfortable in that moment--like he wanted to get off the topic as soon as possible. But I raised my hand, and when his eyes met mine, I stared him down with the same intensity of a third-grader whose grandma has just been to Egypt and you've mentioned Egypt in the lesson and she might die if you don't call on her so she has the chance to tell you and the rest of the class about it. 

And so he called on me (good thing). I explained that I hadn't voted for Obama. It would have been an honor and a privilege to have voted for the first black president had I agreed with his policy. But had I voted for him just because he was black, I would be doing my country a disservice. A vote shouldn't be based on race.

And it shouldn't be based on religion either.

I am a Mormon.  My faith is a core part of my identity. And I'm not going to lie to you. It's exciting to see Mitt Romney in the running. It reminds of the time my dad got picked out of the crowd to do the YMCA on a family cruise last spring. That was our guy up there!

But while my dad instantly had my vote for best portrayal of the Village People because he is my dad, Romney had to pass under a little more scrutiny before he had my vote for president.

This vote is too crucial to cast because I look up and see "our guy" up there.

I am not voting for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon.

I AM voting for Mitt Romney for the reasons I will list in the remaining five posts.

A vote shouldn't be based on race.

and it shouldn't be based on religion, either.

P.S. There is a debate this Wednesday, October 3. Watch it. More information here.

You might also enjoy:

1st Saturday of Seven 

Mr. & Mrs. Vargas

nieces waiting for Cynthia & Jose

with my sisters-in-law

And then we danced. My family was also there and it was fun to have them experience a Latino wedding with us. Danilo let them know he wanted to see them on the dance floor, and they did NOT disappoint (although I was most amused by my dad who danced for the first time in my life, and must have been so taken aback that I didn't record it). And watch that last clip of Danilo dancing with my mom and tell me I'm not the luckiest girl in the world.

We were so happy to be a part of Cynthia and Jose's special day. It was wonderful from beginning to end.



Note: This post is also known as I Get My 2nd Brother-In-Law. Please watch for my 3rd brother-in-law coming this September.

¡Lo hicimos! We did it! We did it! Yay!

The 10th

What started out in 2001 as this


has grown into a 4th of July tradition involving in-laws and family on both sides. If you want to stay out, you better be inside or with the youngin's (click on the collage for a better view).

Wait. Who is that going after Danilo? Just my 80-year-old grandfather. He dishes it out as well as any of the rest of us can.


On this 10th anniversary, we'd like to thank our founder, Uncle Russell.