10 Random Things - 2010 Edition, pt. 2

#6 : Riggs Women...in OR?! It started with a birthday gift. My brother-in-law Shawn surprised my sister Shannon with a ticket to Oregon for her birthday . I can't imagine why Shawn would buy ME a gift for his wife's birthday but this is an idea I support and encourage. Well it just kept getting better after that. When word got out that Shannon was going to be on the west coast my other sister Kristen and my mom decided they would join us for the visit and in a matter of days, a mini Riggs Women retreat was shaping up. Though it would have been so much more fun if all the Riggs women could have been there, it was exactly what I needed. A little R&R with a few R-Women. We spent a night at the Allison Inn and Spa, checked into Heaven for a few hours at the spa, ate like royalty at Brandon's and even got to spend a few hours catching up with Chelle which was an extra bonus. Moral of the story, if you would like family to come visit you, spread the rumor that Shannon is coming.

#7- #10: 2010 “ME”-dia Favorites: Don’t judge, if they were your favorites, I would have titled it “YOU”-dia Favorites.


TV Shows: If the Emmy’s were up to me (and they should be)… the winners would be: Parks and Recreation, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, oh – and Duck Football. You didn’t win the national championship dear Ducks, but I would still give you an Emmy for awesome Stand-Up-And-Cheer television and Chip Kelly’s "interviews". (If no eye contact, one word answers and over in 9 seconds qualifies as an interview)

Book: It's singular because I really only read one REALLY, REALLY good book and because it took me half the year to read it. Gone with The Wind. I was blown away by this book. Scarlet O’Hare is a tough, tough broad. A born and raised "Yankee" it was enlightening and refreshing to soak in the leisure and enchantment of the Tara plantation then experience true grief when it was gone...with the wind. Quick note of caution: as if an 1100 page book doesn’t take long enough, Mammy, the house slave has quite a few speaking parts and it takes a lot of re-reading and sounding out to get the faintest idea of what the sam-hell she is saying…and she says the “n” word…a lot. Mammy is the original racist of the colonized south.

Music: I bought one album in 2010. Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown. I looked forward to it all year and it did not disappoint. I got excited about Mumford and Sons, The Black Keys, and Florence and the Machine but the real star of 2010 was the Pandora station of my own creation. It has masterfully evolved into some of the very best there is in classic and contemporary alternative with Island influences and 80's pop for color. If Bob Ross could paint from my playlist, it would be full of happy, happy trees.

Movies: Unfortunately, movies have been a huge disappointment the last few years. They used to be where I went to escape and be entertained, now it's where I can count on being underwhelmed and offended. However, two big wins for Dreamworks in 2010. I LOVED "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Despicable Me", Disney came through in December with "Tangled". (Yes, I'm a child) I was entertained by “Inception” but at the risk of admitting I couldn’t see the emperor’s new clothes – I didn’t GET IT. I mean, I got it, I just didn’t “GET IT” I’m sure some would say that only means I didn’t really “GET IT” but...agree to disagree.

That's it. The random 10 of 2010. I'm glad I was able to reflect on it this way, it really was a good year full of great memories and tons to be grateful for.

Blog: "So Lindsey, it sounds like you had an amazing 2010, are you sorry it's over??"
Lindsey: "Frankly dear blog, I don't give a damn"

2011 - Let's dance.

10 Random Things - 2010 Edition, pt. 1

I'm going to have to write this in two installments. Please note, the following is not chronological, edited heavily for content and *might not be 100% true. I had to let my fact checker go. Times are lean.

#1 Getting Older: 2010 was my 10 year High School Reunion. Did I go? No. Thanks Facebook for showing me everyone and everything I didn't need to know about people I barely knew for less than 4 years...10 years ago. I look forward to not regretting that decision. Let it also be noted that 2010 was the year of my Golden Birthday. I turned 29 on the 29th. From now on every birthday will be my 29th until people stop believing me. Considering I'm still mistaken for a teenager I'm hoping I can be 29 for a long time.

#2 Work: 2010 was my 10th anniversary year at a beloved company - Waggener Edstrom. In celebration - I quit. In my final e-mail to my many cherished friends and co-workers I expressed that I was never going to appreciate all the tools and skills that I had learned from each of them if I didn't challenge myself to apply them somewhere else. I took what I knew to Nike World Headquarters, swiftly found out I didn't actually know anything and started completely over. Has it been worth the shoes? Don't ask me, ask all my friends and family. I'm looking at you, Jason!

#3 Travel: In a fit of anxiety, sleep deprivation, stress and poor middle-of-the-night judgement - I got onto priceline and bid a ridiculously low figure on 10 nights in Maui - and WON. Just like that. I couldn't have thought about anything less, but needed anything more. Josh and I spent a very economical and MAGICAL 10 days on the Maui Island in Wailea in May. We got up early every morning and ran along the oceanview path, snorkeled, sunbathed, took long drives, ate the local fare, Josh went deep sea fishing and I spent two full days reading Gone With the Wind by the pool. I have traveled many beautiful places with varied companions, but Maui with Josh was unbeatable. Thanksgiving in Louisiana deserves an honorable mention. It was so fun to be "home" for the holidays and spend the traditional hours and hours of slaving in the kitchen with Mom. Josh discovered the best homemade stuffing on the planet, and guess what?! It wasn't made by his mom or his grandma!

#4 Old Scars, New Surgeries: Let me start with an open and sincere apology to all Nike employees for single-handedly increasing the premium for next year's benefit open enrollment. We're sorry. Last August Josh was scouting for elk in preparation for the upcoming bow-hunt and I'm not sure what made this one particular step of greater detriment than the others but one step was all it took - POP goes the meniscus. He hobbled (*and might have even hunted still?) through October until he couldn't take it any longer then checked in for his third, maybe fourth knee repair. *In a jealous rage and as payback for all the nursing, I convinced my cardiologist to recommend a second mitral valve repair. In December they went back through my old scar and put a sleeve and a ring over the valve to plug the leaks and significantly reduce the size of my lower two ventricle chambers. The surgery was successful, it was quite appropriate and timely to have the size of my heart reduced over Christmas. Call me Grinch, I'll answer.

#5 Behave, Beehives!: In January of 2010 I was called to serve as the Beehive advisor in my ward. I won't lie, as the current Activity Day leader I did the happy dance more than once when some of my girls graduated to Young Womens. I wasn't exactly thrilled to have them back as Beehives. If I thought it was hard to get them to pay attention and participate when it was a fun activity that I had planned on a Tuesday, HOW was I going to get them to behave and participate during a spiritual lesson on a Sunday?? Fast foward to January of 2011 and I can't say enough about how much I love and admire my girls. They teach me so much and have been some of the kindest and most thoughtful young ladies in our YW program. I am so impressed with how much they have matured and hope I'm able to continue to learn and grow with them in 2011. That said, I do have a smaller heart now - tread lightly Beehives!

This concludes pt. 1 of 10 Random Things - 2010 Edition. *Maybe 2011 won't need to be summed up in this way.

Grandma Riggs, You are a Poet, and a Lady.

Let me explain something quick. I don't journal. I don't scrapbook. Pictures are always an afterthought and while I'm going on, I might as well say I'm pretty bad at keeping in touch. If only there was a web-based tool where I could post updates, share pictures, find old friends and stay connected - Oh wait...

I spent a few days at my grandma's house last week and I made the most miraculous and extraordinary discovery...FOUR VOLUMES of memory books compiled and preserved for my dad. These books contain pages and pages of handwritten journal entries, hundreds of photos, newspaper clippings, wedding/birth announcements...an account of every family home, car and pet...obituaries, pedigree charts, and photos of ancestors that were well into the great-great-great's. They are incredible. This discovery was even better than a DeLorean and a flux capacitor - I didn't time travel to one year, I traveled through a generation of years! (on a side note, my brother Boonie was also at my Grandma's and he was wearing a Marty McFly orange puff-vest which really altered the reality of the time travel experience)

I can't go back and capture what has been lost, but in the spirit of "10 Random Things" , I can create a random 10, for 2010. I can also vow to do better. (don't misread that as a commitment to be better at Facebook - it's not going to happen)

Stay tuned for the Random 10 of 2010. I'll sleep on it.

A Hero's Welcome

This past Thursday I was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Portland. I was sitting in a row all by myself, 30,000 feet in the air, and for the entire flight I stared out the window and thought about the Disney movie ‘Hercules’. Hercules is Josh’s all-time favorite movie. I imagine it appeals to his boyhood fantasies of having God-like strength, saving civilizations from evil and destruction and rescuing the damsel in distress. And then when the last obstacle has been overcome and the final battle has been won…a hero’s welcome.

The story is a little more complex than just the physical obstacles and feats of strength and courage. The story begins when baby Hercules is separated from his proud and adoring father Zeus, King of the Gods. Hercules is found on earth, taken in by a loving human family and raised as a mortal, never quite fitting in or understanding the source of his unusual strength. He constantly makes disastrous mistakes, he is treated like an outcast, and when the next opportunity arises for him to prove himself to the ‘in’ crowd…he blows it. It seems our hero, is a zero.

Then, at his darkest hour, Hercules sings “Go the Distance” to himself. He imagines himself in a far off place, where the crowds would cheer when they saw him and he would finally feel like he was where he belonged. He told himself that he would be there someday – that he would go the distance. He would search the world and he would face its harms, till he found his hero’s welcome – “waiting in your arms.”

I love that song, it’s meant a lot to me at different points in my life and it has inspired me…(so much that I didn’t even notice or care that it was a Michael Bolton song.) In context of the movie – I’m not sure whose arms he was talking about. Was it his heroine, Meg? Was it his father, Zeus? I don’t know. But regardless, he was certain that he would find his way. He wasn’t going to do it for the glory, the fame, or the cheering crowds. He was going to go the distance for his hero’s welcome waiting in those arms.

My flight home on Thursday was returning from the funeral of my sweet nephew, Karson. From what I believe and what I know to be true – Karson is as immortal and as exalted as Zeus, King of the Gods. His immortality and eternal life is certain and qualified. He is where he’s supposed to be. The hero in my story is my brother Darren, the proud and adoring father who for a time, has been separated from his son. I can’t imagine what this must feel like for him and his amazing wife Jody. I can only say for certain that this separation and this deep feeling of loss is the sum total of all their darkest hours.

Darren gave a beautiful eulogy to his son at his funeral. He shared with us one of the many lessons that Karson taught him in his short life on earth. As his disease was Spinal Muscular Atrophy and left him paralyzed, Karson taught Darren that strength had nothing to do with muscles. I have always known the same about my brother. While Darren has plenty of muscles and physical abilities, the source of his unusual strength is his heart.

Darren, in one of his darkest hours to himself and in front of his family and friends who love him, imagined himself with Karson someday. Karson is where he wants to be, he is his North star. Though at times his road would wander, ultimately, it would lead to him. It could take him a lifetime, but somehow he would see it through. He would go the distance till he found his hero’s welcome, waiting in Karson’s arms.

Speaking completely from the point of view of a little sister, Darren has always been my hero. At my last obstacle and at my final battle, I know he’ll be there and wherever I am he’ll always have a hero’s welcome.

I love you big brother (and Jody and Hadley). God bless your family in your life’s journey on this earth. I know you'll go the distance…TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!