What Just Happened?

A lifetime of change can happen in a day, or a week. I’ve been processing a lot of change the past few days and weeks, and any time I’ve had a moment to sit down and share something here on the blog, another change happens… so I go back to “processing” mode. Here’s a recap on what happened:

1. The Birthday

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Grandma’s 88th Birthday, and now suddenly we are celebrating her 95th! Yep, Grandma is still here. She’s still smiling. She’s still got her great sense of humor. At the party I knelt down next to her and said “Wow, Grandma! How do you feel about turning 95 years old?!” Without missing a beat she chuckled and said “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer lady.” 🙂

While posing for this photo with us, Grandma was singing “Let me call you sweetheart.”

Addie is in the twilight of her life. Every day is a lot like the last. There’s meal time, bath-time, bedtime and lots of nap times in between. Perhaps this will be her last birthday party, or perhaps there are many more to come. Grandma has longevity in her hardy Norwegian genes. Two of her aunties in Norway lived well into their 100s, so you never know.

2. The Engagement

A couple weeks ago Daughter A went hiking with her boyfriend D-man. He suggested they take their little sisters along. It was a lovely morning for a hike. Our daughter was completely unsuspecting that this was not an ordinary walk in the wilderness. At one [pre-determined] point on the hike D-man dropped to one knee, pulled out a diamond ring and asked the big question, while the little sisters photographed and filmed the event [having secretly colluded].

At the time of this life-altering event, I was on Temple Square singing with the Choir, completely oblivious. Of course, we suspected that this could or would eventually happen, but we didn’t see it coming quite so soon. For any of you who have followed Daughter A in the past, you will know what a blessing and miracle her story continues to be.

Later that day when I arrived home Daughters A & B invited me to join their card game. I was delighted that they wanted to play a game with me! We used to play board games all the time and I’ve missed that. I was completely focused on the sport and competitiveness and fun of the cards.

Eventually, I saw the sparkling ring on A’s finger (apparently, she had been wearing it the entire time, trying creative hand gestures to get me to notice). When I did finally see the ring, I fell over and let out quite a scream.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I’m “processing”. This is a whole new adventure in my life and something I’ve never experienced from “this side”. It’s odd how there’s no instruction manual to navigate us through the big changes in our lives (or the little ones, for that matter). There’s that awesome-terrifying-exciting-emotional moment when a tiny baby is placed in your arms and you suddenly become “mother,” and you have no idea what you are doing. Your heart whispers “your life is not your own anymore, good luck!“. And then before you know it there’s the awesome-terrifying-exciting-emotional moment when your baby shows you a ring on their finger and announces they’re getting married – and your heart whispers “Your life isn’t about your child anymore, good luck!“. You suddenly know that your family, and your role as “mother” will never be the same again.

It’s an end of an era.

But, it’s also a new beginning.

For the past days I’ve been trying to figure out how to navigate my new role as “Mother of the bride,” and [future] “mother-in-law.” I found some very interesting observations on Huffington Post. The entire article is great, here’s just an excerpt:

“…not only is the wedding clearly a rite of passage for the bride, but it is also a rite of passage for the mother of bride. A daughter’s wedding is often a time when the mother faces her own mortality and realizes that she is moving into the next phase of life.”

– Sheryl Paul, For the Mother of the Bride

Wow. Apparently, I’m not only facing the process of letting my daughter go, I’m facing my mortality!

Just call me Mother Gothel.

There’s definitely a lot of emotions attached to this new adventure that I didn’t expect – everything from joy to sorrow to fear to excitement and pretty much everything in-between which can all pass through me within the space of a few hours or minutes.

We’ve experienced a lot of big hurdles, trials and leaps of faith as a family over the past few years.  It appears we are strapping in for the “wedding roller coaster” now, and it’s not for the faint of heart! But, I think in the end, it’s going to be pretty cool.

3. The Job

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve been searching for a permanent employment after being told that funding for my current job was ending. I’ve been called up for multiple interviews – often going to the final round – but after some unexpected twists and turns I secured a full-time position within my same office. Interestingly, one of our seasoned team announced she was retiring. With her position opening up, my boss quickly asked if I would step into that role. So, this was the “surprise ending” to my employment quest.

As a side note, you may be entertained to know that in order to replace me in my current job, they discovered they must hire two people. So, this means that I am assuming my new position while also preparing to train two new hires for my former position – but, the new hires do not begin until September 1. So, this means I am trying to juggle 3 full-time jobs right now.

If I wasn’t completely crazy yet, I will be soon!

But, at least my day job is keeping me thoroughly distracted from all the other craziness in my life!

4. The Choir

It’s been so nice not having any extra rehearsals for the past four weeks. We are still waiting for more details about Europe Tour 2016 – particularly the guest eligibility and cost for Mr. Mo to join me [which is making wedding planning extra tricky]. In two more weeks we will be ramping up again with extra rehearsals in preparation for a multitude of big events including General Conference, Christmas, The Tanner Gift of Music [Mahler] Concerts and recording, the Messiah Concerts, and all of this (and more), of course, before our 3 week Europe Tour 2016!

We know our beloved Maestro Mack Wilberg is hard at work choosing and arranging songs. Hopefully taking time for a laugh or two.

This weekend the lovely Irish songstress Alex Sharpe, formerly of the internationally acclaimed group Celtic Woman, was guest soloist on the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. Ms. Sharpe is beautiful inside and out with a very lovely clear voice that speaks to the heart. She performed a new arrangement of the hymn “Abide With Me.” It was lovely, and when it posts to YouTube I’ll be sure to share it. Alex is a fellow Latter-day Saint, so that makes her another Mormon Soprano. 🙂

For a relaxing, inspiring treat, here is her title track from her new album “Be Still My Soul“.

5. What’s Next?

Who knows? The future is uncharted. The possibilities are endless!

I’m planning to hold on tight and enjoy the epic ride! And, of course, you can come along. – MoSop