My Dad: The Famous Author

My Dad forwarded me a talk he gave in church a few years back and I thought I would share some snippets here. Because, wow! my dad makes me sound like an amazing person and he is a very, very talented writer (not to mention teacher, speaker, person in general). He is also hilarious and so beautifully spiritual. The talk itself was about five pages of insightfulness, but I tried to only highlight my favorite parts (which still make it quite the long post, but believe me when I tell you it is a grand read)



My cute parents at my graduation dinner



My parents being extra cute and in love on Mackinac Island



My dad trying really hard to do a good smile ;)



Without much ado, here is a bit from this gem of a human being.

"My wife and I have now been married 23 years and have been blessed with the best two daughters a couple could ever hope for (that’s not to say that we have a “less than the best” son or two, or other daughters who aren’t quite up to par, we just have the two children, and they just happen to be the best).  Our oldest, Lauren, is living in Utah, going to that “Provo based university”, working in Salt Lake this summer while she prepares for her upcoming nuptials in August.  She also, “proud dad” is happy to report, just successfully completed her first marathon yesterday with her health intact, staying “upright” throughout the whole event ... but more about that later."

 Nothing quite as good as hearing that your parent is proud of you. Here is more of the talk. I forgot to mention his talk was on adversity.

Could one argue that if a family is having trouble with a child, that this is somehow a self imposed adversity because parents know that there might be adversity when it comes to their children, and they decided to have the child in the first place, thus it is self imposed?  Truly, that I don’t know nor would I ever care to judge, but I do know that herein lies the blessings of adversity because our children ultimately become our “prosperity” and, speaking for myself, at the very least, no matter what kind of heart ache or troubles that may arise in relationship to my children, the emotional scope between utter happiness to extreme sadness that I have learned from being a father is not something I can imagine learning without having this experience.  It certainly didn’t come from just being a child of a parent, that much is for sure.

Remember that I earlier mentioned that my daughter ran a marathon yesterday.  When she was 12, I took her running with me for the first time.  Up until that point in life, she really hadn’t done any distance running. (Um, try not really run at all cause I spent most of those young years sitting on the couch all day pretending I had friends and watching Lizzie McGuire)  For me, I like to run.  Though I know I don’t look like it, I can actually run fairly far and fairly well and wanted to share that with her.  That day, there was adversity in my life.  In fairness, it was mostly self-created as she was my daughter after all, and I did take her running, but what a blessing it has ultimately turned out to be too … On that first day, she really, really struggled and didn’t like me very much. (I sat down after running barely 1/4 of a mile and told him I hated him and running cause I was one heck of an angsty pre-teen) She screamed a lot at me (when she could catch her breath that is).

For you that don’t know, the secret to being able to run long distance is learning how to breathe.  One has to learn how to slow one’s breathing to the point of almost a regular breathing pattern.  The best runners can actually have full, normal conversations while they run because they have their breathing so controlled.  For her, the first day didn’t work out so well in that category, but she did keep after it, and eventually, she started to get it.  Over time, she started to run further and faster.  In junior high and high school, she ran cross country and track being quite successful in both.  Her sophomore year in high school, she qualified for state and was part of the 6^th placed team.  The next year, her team actually took state. She, however, wasn’t running that day as she had developed a different type of adversity during that season that could have caused her to never run again.  During the summer between seasons, unbeknownst to her or us, she had started to pass out when she ran.  At first, we thought she was just tripping, but her injuries were strange in that she never had injuries to her hands that one would have by trying to catch oneself.  The first time we knew she was actually passing out was at the end of a race when she crossed the finish line and in stride feel face first to the ground.  It was horrifying. (not to mention embarrasing, yet equally sexy)

We did all the doctor things, and it was discovered that crazily, the reason for it happening was quite innocuous.  She was literally healthy, her body just didn’t always keep her blood pressure up, and she would pass out, much like someone who locks their knees and passes out while singing in the choir.  As such, she could keep running if she wished, and she really did.  For the most part, she collapsed at the end of her races with me catching her as she did it, but more than a few times, she collapsed while she was in the middle of the course … one moment running, the next dead weight, no arms catching her, falling to the ground.  More than one person assumed she had died while running when they saw this happen. This was very, very scary, and for many, probably a good enough reason to give up running. Though it was awful for her at the time, she loved running and continued working on it. (because I had great parents, teammates, and coaches who encouraged me) Over the years, she has figured out how to know when she is starting to have issues and can control it much better.  She still does pass out at times, but not nearly as much, and that she could actually complete a marathon is almost a miracle … truly she has taken adversity to prosperity!

Ultimately, there are many kinds of adversity ... some are self created by not following God’s commandments, some by not being smart in one’s decisions, but many are just because life happens.

When my wife and I attended a funeral a few years ago of one of her beloved college professors, Dr. DK Barton, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who was still with us then, stood up to speak and told us that when he had received the call from the Dr Barton’s son that his father had passed away, Elder Maxwell had enthusiastically responded, “That is great news!  Thank you so much for letting me know!”  He explained to us that though his response caught the son by surprise, it was great news because this man had been able to make it through this life, through all the adversity and was now able to go to the other side, prepared to meet God, and that we couldn’t hope for anything better for his friend.

We left heaven to become like Him.  As such, we need to act like Him while we are here if we want to be like Him later.  Adversity will come, there is no doubt about it.  The line between prosperity and adversity is thin. If we follow His commandments, much adversity, like the kind the congressman from New York is now experiencing can be avoided, but even if we avoid that self created type of adversity, it will still come.  Just remember, this life is God both giving us and allowing us to become more like Him.  If we can keep this in mind, life should have more meaning and not feel so daunting.  There use to be a common saying out that that said something like, “Life happens and then you die” ... well, let’s make sure we do our part that the “dying” thing isn’t the kind of premature thing that Elder Holland talked about. 

Wow! Am I right in how awesome my dad is? Answer: Yes. Very much so. Hope you liked a little sneak peak into the talented life of my other X-Chromosome donater.