A New Milestone,,,Seventy-five Years, and still ticking...

Three quarters of a century, as tine is calculated by man, this little bald head poked her little head into the world, took her first breath on earth, and cried!

What do I think when I look at this picture?  The first thoughts that come into my head are those of gratitude!  Gratitude first for my Heavenly Father's Plan which introduced to me somewhere in that vastness of space, called Heaven, His great love for His children.  Because of His Divine Plan, each of us are sent to this earth for the purpose of (1) to obtain a body, and (2) to be tested to see if we will do those things that He has asked us to do in order to return to Him.  And I am grateful for my parents who chose "life" for their second-born child; grateful that I was born in a generation when women take having children as a great privilege and blessing, instead of being able to make choices not to have a child.

I began my life in the little town of Cedar City, Utah.  It is where my pioneer ancestors came after their very long trek by ship from England and Scotland to America.  And then another very long trek by covered wagons across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley.  And, on their arrival, they were sent on yet another trek to southern Utah to settle the area.  Life for those early pioneers was hard.  Life for my parents was hard.  And never once did I hear them complain.

When I was 2 years old, my parents went on a trek of their own...to southern California.  Life for me in southern California was not very hard.  I was taught to follow my parents teachings, pay attention in school and eventually I would be prepared to build my own life.  I was, for the most part, an obedient child.

I spent my formative years in Santa Monica, California, graduated from high school, and then began a trek of my own.  I enrolled in Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and never would call Santa Monica my home again.  (Well, except for the 5 short months in 1969, when we stayed with my parents while looking for a place to settle.)  It was at BYU that I met the "man of my dreams"...literally!  He wasn't tall or dark, but he certainly was handsome.  Gerry Henderson was a Graduate Student, studying for his Master's Degree in Geology, and I was a Freshman.  There were 9 years separating us...scary at first, but comforting as time moved on.

Gerry and I were married in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1958.  Our moves (trek) took us from Santa Monica to Mesa, Arizona to Sacramento, California to Lodi, California to Salt Lake City, Utah to Champaign/Urbana, Illinois to West Los Angeles, California and finally, to Rowland Heights, California.  The year we settled in Rowland Heights was 1970, and the Henderson's trek was over.

In the interim, we added 5 beautiful children to our family.  Five children who would bless our lives tremendously, try our patience at every turn, and knock us to our knees on more than one occasion.  But my greatest trial that would set my feet upon the path of a new trek was the one which hit me like a Mack Truck going 75 MPH on the Interstate.  It knocked the wind out of my sails.  Gerry, the love of my life, my eternal companion, my teacher, my friend, the father of our children, the man I counted on to keep me traveling on that straight and narrow path, was called home to be with His Father in Heaven.  Emptiness filled my soul and emptiness was all that I could feel.  The year was 1981.

A little over a year later, in 1982, because a prayer of loneliness was answered, my Heavenly Father sent me someone who could fill the void.  He knew my needs and Dean Mickelson met most of them.  Heavenly Father also knew I needed to be challenged some more in my life...to prove to Him and to myself that I would be worthy of an eternal home some day with my family.  And this new marriage tested me...in oh, so many ways.

With Dean, my trek continued.  We started our lives together in Taos, New Mexico; then we moved to Raton, New Mexico (where our son, Billy, joined the family); back to Taos, and in 1988, we separated and went our separate ways.  Dean remained in Taos and I moved to St. George, Utah.  Eleven years later, and through circumstances I won't go into here, we drifted back together.  Our second wedding was in a beautiful rose garden in Eugene, Oregon, under a cherry tree that was over a hundred years old.  We figured perhaps that would be a good omen for a second beginning.

Our Oregon trek has taken us from Eugene to Redmond and Crooked River Ranch to Brookings on the southern coast to Lincoln City on the central coast.  Lincoln City is where we call home today.  We have been here for seven years.

Would I trade a single moment of this long and chock full of experiences of every size, shape and color for any other life?  Never.  Because I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and He knows my life from beginning to end.  He knew I would make the choices I have made in my life, because I am His daughter.  He knows my spirit...He gave it life.
 
I have been blessed in so many ways I will not take the time to number all of them.  I have been blessed with love in my life; I have been blessed with 6 amazing and beautiful children and a sharp step-son that I cannot keep up with; my children have given me 14 grandchildren and 5 step-grandchildren; my grandchildren have given me 6 great-grandchildren and 2 step-great-grandchildren.  What more could any woman ask for.

And so you can see, the trek of my 75 year life has taken me many places, given me unlimited experiences, offered me more than one opportunity to grow and I have kept my promise to my Heavenly Father that I would be "an obedient child" and return to Him one day.  Seventy-five used to be the "age of man" at which time he looked forward to laying this old body by and blending it with mother earth.  That is not so, today!  Today, man's lifespan is more in the 80's (and many live well past 100)...if one is to be blessed with a long life, and if the life is not cut short by disease or accident.

And so, I look forward eagerly for perhaps another 10 years or so to get right the things I may still need to learn and finish whatever it is that I was put here to do; and I have been given a new lease on life for the purpose of finishing it!