Boba's passing

Just over a week ago, we learned of Boba's passing.  Ted called me from work early that morning after hearing the news from his mom.  We told the kids after school, and Ted was able to spend some time with Grammie and the family later that night.  The following days were a bit of a blur between emotions and school projects and little sleep, but there were definitely tender mercies interspersed.  Ted's instinct upon hearing the news was to seek comfort at the Tabernacle, where so much of Boba's life was spent.  On Friday, he returned to attend the noon organ recital, and was touched to see that Linda Margetts' program, which was set weeks in advance, included a piece by Robert Cundick.

On Sunday, tender mercies continued.  The hymns for sacrament meeting had been chosen just a few days before Boba passed away, and yet his "Thy Holy Word" was to be our closing hymn.  As it was my turn at the organ, those few days before Sunday were tender as I prepared.  I have even more reason to love that "king of instruments," to use Boba's words.  I also was asked to introduce our intermediate hymn that day, and I acknowledged the Lord's hand in comforting our family, appropriately enough, through music.  Our hearts were full.

Two days ago, the family gathered with so many others who loved him, for Boba's funeral services.  The viewing the evening prior, and all Wednesday, were so very spiritual.  Ted's uncle recounted the proceedings of the funeral in a Facebook post:

Thanks to all who helped make Dad's funeral such a touching and spiritual meeting yesterday. 

About 70 current and former members of the Tabernacle Choir sang "Our God is a God of Love" and "And What Is It We Shall Hope For?" from The Redeemer. Tom and Betsy, Dave Jackman and I were able to join them and of course our beloved Jerry Ottley conducted. Don Ripplinger and Craig Jessop also sang with us! And dear John Longhurst played Dad's deeply moving "Prelude on a Swedish Folk Song."

Longtime friend Roger Miller, who has been helping Dad get his BYU archive together, gave a beautiful tribute to his musical legacy. Brothers Dave, Tom, and I spoke of experiences both funny and profound and shared his feelings about church and family. 

Many thanks to Bishop Verhaaren and to President Russel M. Nelson, who honored us with his presence and read a thoughtful and gracious letter from the First Presidency. Elder Nelson concluded by adding his personal thanks and words of encouragement to Mom and the family. Dad couldn't have been honored more appropriately. 

Opening and closing prayers were by sons-in-law Rob Adams and Dave Jackman and grandson Kenny Cundick read the obituary. Richard Elliott played prelude and postlude and surprised us with a stunning organ rendition of "He is the Root and the Offspring of David" as we filed out. How we wished we could have filed right back in and listened to the entire piece!

My son, Joel Cundick and his cousin, Ted Cundick gave a tender family prayer and dedication of the grave.

We miss you, Dad! We hope you're already well into your first major project up there, undoubtedly advocating for better music and bugging President Hinckley about improvements to the organs. Say hi to the grandparents for us!

A special moment during the funeral, I thought, was when President Nelson stood and said that he did not feel that he could add very much at all to the beautiful tribute that had already been given, but did feel that a particular scripture was appropriate for a man who so knew his Redeemer:

• Enos 1:27

  27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.

The thought had not occurred to me that a man who, no doubt, had come to know his Redeemer in intimate ways during his life as he composed his great masterpiece, The Redeemer, had now experienced the Savior's presence.  I felt the Spirit testify to me the truthfulness of those words--"then shall I see his face with pleasure..." and my soul smiled at the image of Boba smiling in the presence of his Redeemer and going forward to receive the place prepared for him.

A woman I know from DUP, Jane Babcock, is a member of Grammie and Boba's ward.  She was sitting in the row behind Boba on his last Sunday at church, which also happened to be a Fast and Testimony meeting.  She told about how Boba had stood at the beginning of the meeting, desiring to share his testimony, but because he was short, he was not noticed immediately.  Finally, a counselor to the bishop noticed and there was some scrambling to ready a microphone to take over to him.  In the meantime, somebody else walked up to the pulpit to share a testimony.  But Boba patiently stood at his walker until it was his turn.  He then shared, as Jane described it, a clear and firm testimony that he had written down and placed before him so he could read it.  He spoke of how throughout our lives, our testimonies change, and that it was important to him to be able to share his testimony as it was at that moment.  No one guessed that it would be his last public sharing of testimony, but it was a powerful moment, according to Jane.  It was touching to hear this, for me, because I was told that my own grandmother had also shared her testimony in church right before she died.  She had just finished reading the Book of Mormon and felt strongly that she needed to make known her own testimony of that book.

So many sweet feelings, as well as sadness, when we lose such dear people to us.  I'm sure more sadness will come, particularly for Ted, as we realize in coming weeks and months, how much we miss Boba.  But we are grateful for the memories and music that remain.

Awakening 2016

It's a crazy existence right now in the Cundick Family.  Christmas break ended and in these first weeks back to school, we've taken on deadlines for posters, research papers, science fair, and I'm sure we've forgotten a dozen other things.  Turns out, we could have used our break a bit more effectively. Oh well.  Soon we'll get the Christmas bins up in the garage and little by little we'll find ways to be a bit more organized around here.

I've awakened into a new decade of life with this new year.  The big 4-0 as of last Saturday.  We celebrated with a family ski trip up to Solitude, though we didn't ever ski all together.  It remains one of my favorite things to do with my kids, once we do the work to get up there.

Ted arranged for the kids to go stay with his parents that night.  It was a surprise and the kids got a kick out of telling me the plan: "Happy Birthday, mom! You get to get rid of us!"  Ted and I went to a fancy restaurant for dinner and then checked into a nice, quiet, just-the-two-of-us "Hotel Cundick."  It was a great time together.  The night before, we had joined some friends for a ballroom dancing class, and had a great time, so a kid-free evening together was truly a surprise and a wonderful bonus.

It's been a while since I've recorded the comings and goings of our family.  I'm not sure how the best way to stay afloat with all that is these days.  Our most significant change over the past few months is that we moved to a new house.  A family in our ward was moving and we decided to make an offer on their house and put our home on the market.  In a remarkably smooth stretch of a few weeks, things came together, and here we are living at 3114 S Gregson Court.  Our home is on a cul-de-sac on the very southern edge of our ward.  The yard actually backs into our church parking lot, which is perhaps the biggest win of the whole deal.  We have absolutely no good reason to drive to church anymore.  Or to the school, for that manner.  I'm wondering if we've actually saved money moving to this house, considering the number of times I'm NOT needing to drive to this or that (kidding).  We are all very happy here.  Not that we weren't happy before, or even actively looking for a change.  But there are many blessings we are enjoying, living in our new home.

Rachel is doing well in Junior High.  Only a few times have we needed to worry about whether things are getting done for school (and that's been the past two weeks along with all the other craziness).  She's a responsible girl and she seems to thrive in this new world of multiple classes, teachers, etc.  She auditioned for the school play (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat), and is enjoying being a part of that.  She babysits pretty regularly, and is pretty diligent in being in touch with her friends.  I'm grateful she has good friends.  We are lucky.

Other kids are doing great as well.  I wrote about Thomas most recently.  He is still doing great as a fifth grader.  He just completed his first science fair project and did a great job.  It was nice to have a project that didn't involve kitchen mess or permission forms.  He seemed to think he was getting away with something by choosing a topic that had more to do with math/statistics than "science."  And other than the down-to-the-wire parts of it because we didn't get enough done over Christmas break, I really enjoyed helping him where I could.  Thomas seems to be pretty motivated on the piano lately, as well.  I'm happy about that.

Sarah and Callie are consistent "frenemies" these days, as well as roommates.  The two of them come up with all sorts of imaginative play in our new space.  We currently have a congregation of stuffed animals sitting patiently on shoe racks (that hopefully will eventually be returned to their closets), waiting for some kind of "wedding" they have planned.  In our old house, this sort of activity would have taken over our main living space, so I am grateful to have a few spots that are a bit more out-of-sight.

Martin is my daytime buddy.  He goes where I go, unless it's Tuesday when Grandma comes, or Tumbling or Kindermusik days.  He likes spending time on the computer a bit too much, I'm afraid.  I try to get him together with friends when I can, just so he can have a change of pace.  He is a fun kid, smart, very particular about many things.  When I have energy to do so, I convince him to eat something other than "cheese triangles" for lunch, or succeed in getting him to the car to leave without involving some sort of game/race.  Most days, though, he is what he is.  My mom says he reminds her a lot of "Grandpa" (my dad).

Ted and I stay afloat best we can; we even enjoy some "smooth sailing" days.  It's a wonderful feeling to have someone else in the canoe, keeping things from tipping over.  I know I don't acknowledge it nearly enough.

Quick post about TLC

Most years I am ready for school to start up again, but this year I am amazed at how unprepared I am.  I just finished clearing away last year's teacher websites off our computer and added bookmarks to the new, and it hit me again that summer really was just a few short weeks.  TLC's teacher has asked parents to write a letter about each student in her class, so I'm going to get a few ideas out here.  Wish I had time to do the same for each kid, but at least here's a start.

TLC is our second child and the firstborn son in our family.  He's named after his dad, as well as both grandfathers.  When he was born, we were living in Texas, where his dad was working for a law clerk for a federal judge.  We lived there until he was 2 1/2, and then we moved Utah.

TLC's a younger brother to RVC, and a big brother to SCC (9), CAC (7), and MEC (5).  To his sisters, he's mostly a tease, knowing just what buttons to push to make them scream, cry, or both.  "Hero or Goat?" is something his dad often asks when TLC has been the source of trouble around the house.   I’d say that he mostly sees his behavior as all in fun and while he's lately more goat than hero, we do see moments of harmony.  They get along best when we’re doing things together like camping, skiing, swimming, playing games, hiking, or spending time at the cabin.

Where he falls short in sister love, TLC more than makes up in the way he treats his little brother.  Everything they do together is fun--wrestling, laundry put-away races, playing trains, taking stuffed-animal inventory.  MEC sure misses having his buddy around now that he's back in school.

TLC is smart and analytical, not so much a pleaser in school, but super competitive with himself and others.  It took him a while to get into reading.  Last summer, though, he gave the Harry Potter books a shot, and soon took off with series after series.  He was more driven in reading than anything else in 4th grade.  Lately, TLC has made some great progress as pianist, with a particular talent in memorizing and transposing songs he likes into new keys.  He doesn't love to write, but is a creative kid nonetheless.  If he would take the time to write out some of the stories and anecdotes he comes up with on the spot, he'd discover that he's pretty talented in that area as well.

We've had some close-call experiences with TLC.  A couple of years ago, he was skiing with his mom and sister and took a fall over a roped off area and had to be braced to a toboggan, towed down the mountain, and then transported by ambulance down to the hospital before we knew he was cleared of any spine or neck injury.  We were lucky to walk away from that without any problems.  Last year he suffered a minor concussion while playing soccer at recess.  In the spring, he got a permanent front tooth knocked out during a baseball game.  And just a few weeks ago this summer, he got shot in the eye with a hard-pressured spray from a homemade water rocket launcher.  TLC and I have had some good talks about how he's had some scary experiences, and yet he's been blessed to walk away from them so far.  He's beginning to understand the importance of not taking his life and health for granted and of using his head, taking a minute to consider consequences of his actions.

TLC's a really good kid.  He still needs frequent reminders to make his actions consistent with what he wants in life, but he certainly has a lot to offer the world.  We love having him in our family.

Summer 2015 has arrived

I think I may have hit the point where occasional updates here are the norm.  I'm feeling somewhat emotional on this last day of school and I think that writing has always been a bit therapeutic for me.

I would like to say that we were all up on time and ready to go with enough spare time to pose for a few "last day" photos and walk hand-in-hand to school.  Alas, it was much like every other day this year--we struggled to get out of bed.  Certain clothing items were nowhere to be found.  Kids argued, hair was hurriedly combed (or not), tears were shed.

A few things went right in the midst of the craziness.  For one, we all sat at the table together to read scriptures and pray as a family.  We are much better at that now than we used to be, now that everyone sleeps through the night and [mostly] wakes up at the same time.  I'm grateful that, even if we miss here and there or if it isn't spiritual every time, it has become more of a habit for our family.

I told the kids that I wanted them to walk to school today and that I would even walk part way with them.  I suppose that's another thing that went right.  As usual, we were cutting it close with all the last minute crises that school mornings bring, but we made it happen.  I thought TLC had left ahead of us, but apparently he had missed the memo and was waiting for us in the car when I headed up the hill with CAC and RVC.  Luckily he realized we weren't coming and hopped on his bike and took up the rear.  I'm guessing none of them made it on time, but that's ok.  As I carried CAC's scooter back home, I was remembering all the times I had sent RVC off to school by herself, often on her scooter, those first few years of elementary school before siblings would join her.  I usually would watch her from the top of our street and make sure she made it to the stop sign at the bend in the road.  Then I'd run home and call my friend Tracy to make sure RVC had made it up to her house and then Kennedy and RVC would go the rest of the way.  Even though I worried, it was such a relief to have a way for RVC to get to and from school and not have to constantly be loading up the babies at home each time.  The strangest part of those memories, is that they don't seem too long ago, until I stop and count the years.  Then I start to feel sad.  I feel sad that I didn't walk to school with them more or cherish the school mornings more despite the frustration and craziness that came along with them.  Somehow in this blur of years, I've sent three more kids off on first (and last) days of school.  We're all growing up too fast.

As RVC says goodbye to Rosecrest Elementary today, SCC has her last day at Morningside.  She'll be returning to Rosecrest in the fall.  I'm impressed with these kids and how they take on change.  I'm learning that I can't always predict what will upset them.  For both of these girls, I was anticipating more emotion and sentimentality.  So far, I think we're all just ready to be done for the year...not much sappy emotion to speak of.

It always feels good to reach the end of busy spring schedules.  We juggled soccer, baseball, piano, Cub Scouts, Girls on the Run, and more...sometimes all on the same night.  I had my own adventure on a very rainy May 16, running my first full marathon in Ogden.  With exception of the weather, it was everything I had hoped it would be, with he added bonus of having the support of TEC and Val and Ben.  I hadn't realized how much seeing someone I knew along the route would help, especially when I was drenched and cold.  Now I'm ready for a new chapter of running just for fun, maybe biking some with TEC, and exercising more with my kids, since they're old enough to do more of that.  I'm waiting for a mysterious pain in my foot to settle down, but I look forward to that.

Welcome, summer 2015.  You will fly by in no time, I'm sure, but we're happy you are finally here.

March and all that got us here...

March is a good place to start the new year of blogging, especially when today was the first real wintery day of the year, so it's not quite spring yet.  As I shoveled the driveway, I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had shoveled the driveway, it had been so long.

2015 has seen three birthdays already, as well as a family trip to Disneyworld, unwelcome sick days, fantastic ski days, basketball games, play rehearsals, piano Federation, and even a new car.

We'll begin with January.  The major event was the Florida trip, which was made possible in part by the airline vouchers we earned last spring on our trip to Virginia.  We did three days of Disney: Epcot Center, the Magic Kingdom (on Thomas' birthday!), and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

It's a good thing TEC was all over getting things figured out for the Disney part of the trip--as if he had time on top of work and other responsibilities to arrange tickets, lay out itineraries, research meal plans, fast passes, and all the rest--because we had a great time.  It was the in-your-dreams magical experience of getting there when it opens and staying till it closes.  He was the dad that carrying one kid on his shoulders while pushing another in a stroller clear across the park just to let one of his kids go on their favorite ride one last time, or remembering his promise to let the kids fill up their mugs at the soda fountain, or somehow sneaking away in the craziness of the day at Epcot to buy a beloved birthday soccer ball for his boy.

He was also the dad stayed with C and M and gave me and the three big kids a day at another Florida theme park: Universal Studios.  After Tom, Sarah (and Rachel for a second time) had flown through the series last summer, they were very excited to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It was really fantastic.  Despite it being a Monday holiday (MLK Jr. Day), we were fortunate to avoid too horrible of lines.  It was mostly walking around and feeling a part of the book, even while in line for the rides.  And, of course, we had a few indulgences like butter beer and unusually flavored ice cream (strawberry-peanut butter!).  It was a treat for me to spend time with my big kids, who not only made it fun, but were even mature enough to not complain about us not spending ridiculous amounts of money on wands and other Harry Potter souvenir items.

TLC turned ten on our trip.  It was quite the birthday celebration, with not just a few birthday party guests.  Actually, this year was supposed to be our "party" year for birthdays, so between being gone for our trip and then getting sick a couple of weeks after, it was mid-February before he finally got to have some friends over for a movie night.  And then it was even after that when I finally made his birthday cake.  Hopefully he forgives me.  We've had a few fun outings with this great kid so far this year.  He and I had a blast skiing a few weekends ago, exploring many runs at Solitude that we haven't done before.  TEC and I were also able to go on the 4th grade snow shoeing field trip and hang out with TLC and his classmates up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a fun morning.  He's doing well in school, setting crazy reading goals, progressing at the piano and in Cub Scouts with the Webelos.  His feet are huge and he's pretty much stronger than me.

Another birthday happened at our house just one week ago: MEC turned two on the 24th of February.  He is a fun and happy kid.  He's definitely our most particular child, who likes things "just so" and simply cannot be rushed.  How do I forget this so often???  You'd think I'd have learned to plan ample time in our schedule to allow for his ways.  I'm doing my best to think of ways to help him become a bit more flexible...we'll see.  His current favorites are (still) Thomas the Train, Curious George, Cars, Wild Krats...  He also loves Primary and some of his buddies there, particularly Bridger.  He goes to tumbling class on Wednesdays with his cousin Andrew, and Kindermusik on Fridays, where Miss Marilee tells me that he is a wonderful singer.  One of my favorite things to watch is MEC stand in line with his siblings in front of the computer to sing and dance along with a "Just Dance" video like he's one of the big kids.

MEC's last day as a three year-old included a very appropriate adventure, considering his love of all things transportation.  We got up and got the kids off to school, stopped at the credit union, and then drove "down to town" to drop the car off at Dad's work.  We then began our train ride adventure.  First we took TRAX (or, the "electric train") to the Frontrunner station, where we boarded a train that would take us up to Layton.  That's all MEC understood, but he was in heaven.  He payed close attention to every detail--the name of each station, whether our train was going north or south.  He wore his hat (it was cold that day) tight over his ears just in case the train whistles were too loud.  It was great.  Our purpose in going to Layton, though, was to purchase a new car.  TEC and I had decided on it over the weekend and just needed to do the paperwork and pick it up.  So, we are now a Suburban family.  We sold our van and and getting adjusted to this fancy new (and big!) set of wheels that barely fits into our garage.  The kids love it and have decided on a Narnia-inspired name: Ramandu.

And there we have it.  Up next for 2015: two kids perform in the Rosecrest play, Alice in Wonderland, Jr., Girls on the Run for SCC, soccer for three, a quick trip for Mom and Dad, and a fairly significant running adventure for me come May.