march madness

well, i came into this world in march. the 7th, to be exact. 1986 to be more exact. 9:42 on a friday evening if you are picky.

25 years ago:
pretty in pink was #1 in the box offices that week. the color purple and out of africa both made the top 10. the rest are obscure movies i've never seen. (on second thought, the only one in the top 10 that i've seen at all is out of africa) my birth year was designated an international year of peace by the united nations. the country was still reeling from the space shuttle challenger disaster. the chernobyl disaster killed thousands and affected millions in europe and beyond. halley's comet made an appearance (i don't remember it :) pixar animation studios began. the mir space station was launched. geraldo rivera would open al capone's vault, to be disappointed by a mere bottle of moonshine. 6.5 million people linked hands in hands across america; they raised some 30 million dollars to fight poverty and hunger. fergie married prince andrew. desmond tutu becomes the first black anglican bishop in south africa. it was the centennial of the statue of liberty's dedication. a day in the life of america was shot (nope, i'm not in it, but i could be!) it was a world cup year (mexico). sara came out and hit #1 on the billboard hot 100 charts.

march 7th, 1986 was a beautiful spring day, the temps were in the 50s and 60s. that day, crews found the challenger's crew compartment on the ocean floor, including each of the 7 crew members' bodies. when my mom went into labor, she got to drive herself to the hospital because my dad wanted to wait for a load of rock to be delivered. i guess the new-ness of babies wears off by the 4th :)  i was born at holy cross hospital in salt lake, and my entrance set the stage for the rest of my life. all three of my mom's older kids had 'backed up and shot out' as she puts it. she and her doctor were expecting that same thing with me, but they had never met me. after quite a while of hard pushing, the doctor decided to get the forceps. the moment i heard him say that, i backed up and shot out. he barely had time to catch me.  i guess i'm only as stubborn as it is beneficial to me. (and yes, my dad made it in time. barely :)

my name was latu siale lolohea (latu after my dad's eldest sister, siale because gardenia is my mom's favorite flower) i was 7lbs 2oz, 19 inches long. by the time my blessing came around, my name was changed to latu sara lolohea. the biggest reason? my grandpa struggled enough to pronounce latu and lolohea, he didn't want to have to remember siale as well. so, my mom named me sara, after the jefferson starship song (which hit #1 in the charts a week after i was born), and an ancestor of hers that was 1/2 navajo, 1/2 paiute. it was a inspired choice; i've always had long, indian straight hair. just like my namesake. :)

i was a happy baby, but a definite mama's girl. when i was two, my mom led the music in relief society (and had another baby) i refused to go to anyone but my mom, so i spent the length of each song screaming at her legs. the sweet old ladies in the ward would try to take me and soothe me, but it wasn't long before they all decided to just let me be and sing over my screaming.

my young childhood was pretty idyllic. i have nothing to complain about. i grew up in hawaii (which i did not appreciate until we moved to utah and i realized the difference) in elementary school on maui, i used my first computer. the computer lab monitor made us wash our hands before we touched them. we didn't want to spread viruses!

a lot of things happened between then and now (it's been 25 years!) but there is one thing that did not. never did i ever think i would be turning 25. i guess i thought that once it really happened, i would already be old and it would not feel so weird. unfortunately, that did not happen. i am trying not to focus on it, 25 is not that old, and it's not like i can change it. so, here's the year(ish) in review:

one year ago today, i was looking forward to trips to arizona, hawaii, and france. i was working at pcs, and had no plans to quit. i began playing rugby and found a love of my life in that game. in june, i quit pcs and began working for a web design company. i went back to working 9-5 and decided i hated it. especially in the middle of summer and its sunny goodness :)  in september, i quit that job, broke my sternum, and cancelled my trip to france. october found me working for a group home, which i promptly quit when masey was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in november. christmas was low-key and i started school in january. that about brings my year present.

(hopefully everyone has stopped reading by now, cause here's where i start explaining my life)

this past year has been the most profound of my life, spiritually speaking. i started the past year determined to stop making poor choices. i am ashamed to say that my resolved was short lasted. life started happening, and it was so easy to reorganize my priorities, all the while promising myself it was temporary. it was effortless to forget the changes, move on and continue to fool myself into thinking i was happy. throughout the past year, though, i have discovered a love for the Lord that i could not have known otherwise.

i needed to regress once more; to experience the sorrow of sin and the contrast of true happiness. i do not want this time in my life to be some sort of 'a-ha' moment; to be a huge jump in the graph of my progression. i want it to be just any other time in my life, where i try to be better by taking tiny steps. i do not want this moment in my life defined by one huge step, but by the tiny steps i am consistently making. that sort of progress is progress i can easily manage.

i know now that i will never have an experience like those in ancient days, where an angel appears to me, all thought of sin is eternally gone from my mind, and i become nearly perfect in the blink of an eye. i am just an ordinary nephite, trying to overcome the same pride cycle that my ancestors have struggled with for thousands of years.