17 Hearts

Valentine's Day always creeps up on me unexpectedly. This year, I didn't remember to get valentines for Amber's classmates at school until the night before February 14th. I learned that Valentine's Eve is a scary time to be at the store in Sunnyside. I absolutely couldn't face a trip to Walmart, so I went to Safeway, which is the closest store to our house. The parking lot was jam packed with cars, and inside the grocery store was a chaotic explosion of red heart-shaped balloons and bouquets of flowers covering every surface. I walked around in shock searching in vain for a box of school valentine cards. There were none, so I settled for a bag of Hershey's Hugs (the Hershey's Kisses were sold out). I stood in line, paid for the waxy chocolate, and got out of there as fast as I could. 

It turned out to be an excellent move, getting chocolate instead of cards for Amber's class. Amber did not have to laboriously copy down names onto tiny pieces of pink cardstock. All she did was bring the bag of candy to school and gave each kid in her class four Hugs. I'm sold. My slacker last-minute Valentine-ing taught me a new strategy for surviving elementary school parties, haha. 

For my own family, I actually did remember to get them something Valentine-y and sweet. I gave each of my children a personal sized bag of pink and white frosted animal cookies, and Jeff a bag of Swedish Fish gummies. The kids always beg to have some of mine on the few occasions that I buy these waxy but addicting frosted cookies, so I thought they'd like to have some of their very own. I even wrote each of my family members a quick "I love you" note to go with their cookies. Talk about over-achieving! I figured that since Jay and Rose don't get elementary school Valentine's parties anymore, I as their mother, who loves them more than anyone at school anyways, could give them something sweet on Valentine's Day. The kids were very happy to find their treats at their place on the kitchen table on Valentine's Day morning. Jay ate his cookies before school. Amber ate hers right after school. Rose saved hers to eat after dinner. 

Even though Jay and Rose did not have Valentine parties at school, they still came home somewhat loaded with sugary treats (whether in pockets or ingested). Of course Amber came home with the biggest stash of candy from her school class party. I noticed that she only had about four or five of those little boxed Valentine cards. Maybe those cards are finally dying a long-awaited death? Anyways, there was a significant amount of sugar-high fallout in our home on the evening of the 14th, but it was manageable.

Jeff came home and changed into his heart-patterned fleece onesie before dinner, and it made me smile. 

After dinner (wholesome homemade beans and sausage), Jeff wanted to play his trumpet and I wanted to have a family game night. So we combined forces and played musical chairs, with Jeff providing the music on his trumpet. I was the judge and the kids played the game, walking in tight circles around our two small low ottomans while Jeff played show tunes on his trumpet (while still wearing his heart-patterned fleece onesie). Jeff's gift to me was a trumpet rendition of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", played soulfully from Jeff's fleece-heart-clad body. The chaos of musical chairs with live trumpet music in our tiny front room was intense, and my eardrums were fried by the end, but the whole evening was pure White Family gold. 

Valentine's Day 2023 marked 17 years since Jeff and I went on our first date!

A few days later on Saturday, February 18th, Jay and Rose went on a youth temple trip to do baptisms for the dead. It was Rose's first ever temple trip, and she liked it a lot. Jeff and I did not get to go on this trip because we had Amber at home and there were already enough adults going to the temple, but Jay and Rose both came home in good spirits with that glow that only a temple trip can create.

The next day (Sunday, February 19th), Rose gave her first talk in sacrament meeting as the youth speaker. She narrated the children's primary program back in October, so she was no stranger to being up in front of the microphone. She gave an excellent talk at Amber's baptism, so she was experienced enough write another good talk, which she did, with just a tidbit of advice from her parents. (We encouraged her to leave out the details on the violence that she and Amber exchange in their kerfuffles, haha. And I helped her find the conference talk that she wanted to use.) We were so happy to sit in a pew on Sunday morning and listen to our Rosie share her thoughts on "being a light to others." It is so neat, fun, special, and meaningful to watch (and help) my kids grow and progress step by step as they learn the gospel. 

We have had an exceptionally sunny February. This irrigation pivot with its sweeping arm and long shadow seemed extra scenic on one of my runs.

These doleful muddy heifers looked so resigned to their squelchy lot in life as I walked past them on another sunny day.

The teenager sharpening his wit...

This is an amusing new phase: the one where the teenager makes fun of his father.

Comparing Jay's reach on our low ceilings. Standing flat footed, Jay can now touch the ceiling with his fingertips.

Rose and Amber, enjoying the February sunshine on the trampoline.

I felt guilty for trying to take a sneaky picture of Jeff playing his trumpet, and this was my reward: a blurry picture. Haha.

GAG: Safeway on Valentine's Eve, 6pm on February 13th. Did they really sell all of those balloons? It seems unlikely! So what did they do with them the next day? Is there some industrial-strength balloon popper, and did the employees who operated it talk in funny high voices from all of the released helium? I have important questions that need answers!

Sunnyside USA.

(Feliz dia de San Valentin! I actually kind of wanted one of these Spanish Valentine balloons.)

Amber, admiring her Valentine candy stash after school.

The heart onesie and the trumpet! This is true love.

Musical chairs and live music. There were elbows and arguments flying every which way.

I couldn't resist taking a funny perspective picture of Jeff. I wanted to draw it...

Rose sat down next to me and played the trumpet after Jeff finished. It is extremely hard to sit next to a beginner trumpet player on the couch. I retreated with my ears ringing.

This was the only picture I managed to take with my true love on Valentine's Day. Amber was in need of encouragement and comfort after her older siblings beat her at musical chairs, so she joined her parents on the couch and I never came back to my "17 year anniversary of our first date" picture.

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Rose gave me permission to share her first ever sacrament meeting talk as the youth speaker:

Matthew 5 verses 14–15 read “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house.” Today I was asked to give a talk on “being a light for others”. Sometimes, it is easy to think that being a light for others is just having good manners and smiling, however, sometimes it is harder than that. 

In the April 2020 talk by Bonnie H. Cordon titled, “That They May See”, it says, “When I was 10 years old, our family had the honor of hosting Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles while he was on assignment in my hometown.

"At the close of the day, our family and the Perrys sat down in our living room to enjoy my mother’s delicious apple pie while Elder Perry recounted stories about Saints around the world. I was enthralled.

"It was getting late when my mother called me into the kitchen and asked a simple question: ‘Bonnie, did you feed the chickens?’

"My heart fell; I had not. Not wanting to leave the presence of an Apostle of the Lord, I suggested the chickens could fast until morning.

"My mother replied with a definitive ‘no.’ Just then, Elder Perry entered the kitchen and with his booming, enthusiastic voice asked, ‘Did I hear someone needs to feed the chickens? Can my son and I join you?’

"Oh, what an absolute joy it now became to feed the chickens! I ran to get our large yellow flashlight. Excited, I led out, skipping over the well-worn path to the chicken coop. With flashlight swinging from my hand, we crossed the corn patch and passed through the wheat field.

"Reaching the small irrigation ditch that crossed the path, I instinctively jumped over it as I had done many nights before. I was oblivious to Elder Perry’s efforts to keep up on a dark, unknown path. My dancing light did not help him see the ditch. Without a steady light to see, he stepped directly in the water and let out a loud groan. Panicked, I turned to see my new friend remove his soaking wet foot from the ditch and shaking the water from his heavy leather shoe.

"With a soaked and sloshing shoe, Elder Perry helped me feed the chickens. When we were through, he lovingly instructed, ‘Bonnie, I need to see the path. I need the light to shine where I am walking.’ I was shining my light but not in a way that would help Elder Perry. Now, knowing that he needed my light to safely navigate the path, I focused the flashlight just ahead of his steps and we were able to return home with confidence.

"…The Lord’s invitation to let our light so shine is not just about randomly waving a beam of light and making the world generally brighter. It is about focusing our light so others may see the way to Christ.” 

This was actually the talk that I thought of when I was asked to give this talk. Me and my mom both remembered it and were surprised to see it was from back in 2020. 

It can be hard to do the right thing sometimes. To show an easy example, I will describe a story that has happened to me countless times. I am sitting on the couch reading. My little sister walks up to me and starts being as annoying as possible. Then, when I’m annoyed and tell her “I’m reading, leave me alone,” she tends to start attacking me. She’ll get onto the couch and start constantly bothering me. She’ll get in close and try to poke me. Over and over again. And then, I’ll want to fight back. It’s hard not to fight back. Admittedly, I usually can’t stand it and end up fighting back. I usually regret it. What I really need to do is light the way. Think, what would Jesus do? 

It can be hard to light the way for others, especially with people we don’t know. When I’m at school and hear people talking, how can I help them without embarrassing myself? It’s hard to help people we don’t like, people we don’t know, people we know well enough that it would be too awkward, embarrassing, tiring, there is always an excuse. Part of lighting the path is pushing past all of that. Don’t hide your light. Shine it, let the world see.