Thomas

(I just snuck this in because I think it's one of my top 10 photos.)

(perched on the base of the Statue of Liberty)

(with Mia Ogasawara and her family)

(only butter would release this stuck finger in Hoge's room 1997)

(Washington Square, NYC--1999)

(receiving the Princeton Ward missionary tie from Sam Carter)

Thomas was born during a rip snorting winter storm in Logan, UT, on December 15, 1981.  The power in the hospital went out forcing the emergency generators to take over.  He was the only child I delivered with the use of anesthesia, thus it was a rather enjoyable experience.  Grandma later mused that perhaps the millennium had started--painless child birth. I remember calmly reading a Clive Cussler novel, Titanic, pretty oblivious to the progression of the labor and then laughing and joking with the delivery room folks.  I remember my doctor in Logan was one that Nancy had used--Dr. Hyde.  Years later I learned that he'd died and then come back. The storm prevented Chris' arrival from Provo.  Shelly and Taggart went off to see Santa Claus with Nancy and her little boys, so it was just the two of us.  He arrived with a bit of plumbing malfunction which we remedied a few years later.  Thomas was the baby in arms when we shuffled off to Texas in a U-Haul.  He balked at the makeshift bed and was cranky all night for a few nights when we were forced to contrive his bed out of a couch and some boxes once we arrived in Texas, but a subsequent donated crib fixed all that.

Thomas was the baby on my hip while I herded the other two.  He wrapped himself around me like a spider monkey and quickly earned the nickname "Idget"--his pediatrician proclaimed him "off the charts" size-wise--a little bit of a guy, but he made up for it in his prodigious ability to speak at a young age.  He bragged to all the neighborhood kids, "I'm OFF the charts!"  They loved to gather around him and ask him to say all manner of things--a little human tape recorder!  He was the first to bring home chicken pox from the nursery to share with his brother and sister.  He was a perfect sidekick for them for the next 18 years.  Thomas has always been jovial and happy just to be here!

At an early age--8 months--he fashioned a sword out of bristle blocks and has been artistically inclined ever since.  He particularly loved to wear pencils down to the nub until they were just an eraser with a little point of lead.  He drew and drew and drew--especially tiny little comical figures.  I learned quickly to stick them all in a file envelope. He also was on a coloring contest winning streak in Logan! He took to the super hero role, and for a time in Sugar City wore a Superman cape as his daily uniform!  I have a comfortable feeling when I remember back to the warmth of his companionship.  He was just so pleasant and entertaining to be around--easily absorbed in his own world in the corner of a laundromat--that sort of thing.

When we put him in first grade in New Jersey, the teacher good-naturedly reported that she'd had to move him to the back of the row.  He was so entertaining "Like TV!" she said, that the other kids were spending all of their time watching him!  He took very naturally to cats and kittens and shows great compassion with animals, always trying to talk to them.  His talents are many.  He tested high enough to be enrolled in a gifted and talented program in Montpelier.  As a result of that, he and I spent an adventurous week in Yellowstone as part of a lab program. At one point when he was in middle school, I asked a professor I had at the time why Thomas wasn't the keen reader that I would have supposed him to be given his intelligence.  She told me to be patient--that he was probably involved with developing his gross motor skills.  Sure enough, there WAS a reader in there which emerged a couple of decades later!

Thomas has always stubbornly been his own person and delights in his individuality.  Everyone loves him for it.  He has had a loyal following of admirers and curious on-lookers his whole life.  His friends have filled the walls of our home with laughs and pranks over the years. He grows a tempestuous crop of hair!  I remember him dancing in his underwear to the Mamas and Papas in our basement which he and I shared in Montpelier.  He and I took a Book of Mormon challenge together and kept each other motivated to read.  I loved having him come through my classroom door at the high school to rummage through my drawers for things to eat.   I remember his complete lack of enthusiasm for my stencilling projects in New Jersey.  I loved his antics in the snow. I loved helping him cut apart Geoffrey Giraffe from Toys R Us for his animation movie. I tolerated taking him around in the car sometimes to deliver his papers.  I love discussing deep things with him now.  I am so happy he is part of my story.