Owens kids, circa 1994
To be tan,
And to live ten feet from the beach,
And to never have to wear a coat,
Or pants very often,
To have salty hair,
To have sand between the sheets,
And to get loss of sunshine.
I miss all of that.
I always will.
But,
I am happy to be home.
I always will be.
SIMBA.
What a good companion he has always been.
I received Simba as a gift from my neighbor, Kate, when I was about 7. We lived in Anchor Point at the time and Kate lived (and still lives) in a red house across the street. For quite a while, she had a big turquoise flag with a peace sign on it, hanging on the front of her home.
When we first met Kate, my older sisters, Holly and Stacy, went to her house and drank tea. I remember them not being too fond of the tea, and I remember being excited to meet her and spend time with her. When I went to Kate’s, I remember always drinking lots of hot chocolate. I’d hang out over there with her a lot. It was nice. And I remember I’d always shake my belly and hear the liquidy hot chocolate rolling around inside of me.
Kate has travelled quite a bit I think, and I remember being fascinated with all the treasures and trinkets in her three story home. I always remember a rainstick, and especially liking the library upstairs. This home across the road from mine, belonged to multiple friends and families through out the years. Most notable were the Ballentines of course. I remember playing on their pulley zip line thing, playing cops and robbers, and perhaps hunting easter eggs, though the easter memory could be false. There were two other families, the Woods and Schluckabeers, who had girls my age to play with! Emily and Alicia I think. That’s what I remember. The house still belongs to Kate now. I think I need to go have some hot chocolate or tea with her in her memory filled home.
We actually ran into each other at the post office the other day. I told her how I was still so attached to Simba. I explained how he’s traveled a lot with me. He accompanied me to BYU-Hawaii, Jerusalem and other places in the middle east, my mission in Brazil, staying with my grandparents in California, visits to Utah, and he’s even been on plenty of kayaking and backpacking trips here in Alaska. Where I go, Simba goes. It’s sort of like the Ruth and Naomi thing. ;)
My dear friend Kate said she has a little stuffed snow leopard that she’s been quite attached to over the years too. She encouraged me to ponder and think more about why I’ve been so drawn to my little lion cub, Simba. Interesting thoughts. But yes, Simba, Kate, her snow leopard and I need to have some hot chocolate and tea soon, just like she and I always used to.
After all these years, I always remember Kate’s phone number, and even part of her license plate number. When I first received Simba from her, I remember taking him on a bike ride with me down the dirt road. Somehow he fell off (silly lion) and got dirty. I was sad about that because he was nice and new and mine and I wanted to take care of him. While I was on my mission, my beloved twin friends’ mother sent me a little felt missionary tie for Simba. He still wears it proudly. Today, Simba’s fur is quite matted, and the black on his eyes is very worn. Every so often I recolor his eyes with a sharpie to make him young again, and to keep myself young too.
I found these the other day.
So funny.
I found lots of other great poems I had written too. :)
There is one for each of my family members. It’s funny to see what I thought of and the words I chose to describe my dear beloved family.
Notice my perception of self was pretty spot on haha.
Today I remembered that when I was little, we lived in a cabin in the woods by a russian village in Anchor Point, Alaska. My dad built the cabin. We had lots of cool forts in the woods. And we didn’t have running water. So we washed dishes in these little plastic bins, we bathed every so often in a galvanized tub thing, and we had an outhouse.
I realized that this is somewhat atypical, and I’m really grateful I was blessed with some time of life in the woods with an outhouse. What a dream.
My Doctrine and Covenants teacher, Elder Wright, was talking in class today about his days with an outhouse, and it invited me to reminisce on many good memories at the cabin.
What a really great time of life.
I do remember watching Jurassic Park on VHS in our little living room. It was dark, windy, and rainy outside and I remember not wanting to go out to the outhouse after watching that movie! I was afraid a big T-Rex would come get me.
When my parents first got married in 1981 (California boy + Idaho girl) my dad took my mom back up to Alaska to this cabin, where they lived. A year later my sister was born, then another sister, and a brother. And somewhere before I was born they moved to a house with running water, also in the town of Anchor Point, Alaska.
I was born and around 5 years later, we moved back to the cabin for a year or so. I was in kindergarten and have many many fond memories of life at the cabin. We had a ton of cool forts in the forest. We’d pick blueberries in the summer, go sledding in the winter. We had chickens and a rooster named James, and I think we had a couple bunnies. Of course we had some birds and our trusty chocolate lab Bosco too.
Life at the cabin was great.
Even with scary, dark trips to the outhouse after watching Jurassic Park.
I remember learning to read at the cabin. My first book was Dick and Jane, not sure if it was Mom or Dad’s old book, but we still have it around! And I have a memory of reading the picture scripture stories, and reading the word resurrection and my dad being really impressed and that made me feel good.
I’m really grateful for how my life has gone so far. Lots of great and unexpected things, and many more to come.
I was riding a camel down Mt. Sinai. What a dream.
I went through all my Jerusalem blog posts last night and it got me feeling quite nostalgic and homesick for my semester in the Holy Land.
What a magical increible fantastic bundle of experiences.
