Zilpha

A few days ago my mom was asked if we would sing at a funeral for Zilpha Maude Hershner Hutchens, a 103-year-old woman from our Stake. It was a little strange to sing at the funeral for someone I had never met but I felt lucky to hear the beautiful things people had to say about her.

During the eulogy I jotted down a few of the things I liked that they said about her:

• Zilpha was active in the community senior center and took lots of classes. When she started her second year of Spanish she was asked if she was planning a trip to Mexico. She responded, "No, but if anyone ever asks I'll be ready!"
• She also took a hula dancing at the community center and when they performed she was the concluding soloist.
• When she was in her 80s she fulfilled a lifelong goal to ride an elephant.
• Every person talked about how much fun she had trying new things.
• And her Home Teacher spoke how she was afraid to die and so every time they visited they blessed her not to die. Pretty remarkable considering she lived 103 years!

It was good to have been able to be a part of the funeral service.

Also today, my dad's nurse had an appointment this afternoon and so I was called in to work a few hours as her fill in. I kind of like being the nurse in the office. I get to talk to people more, I get to spend time with my papa and see interesting things.

Two interesting things:

1. Removed a cyst from a woman's back. [WARNING: If you get squeamish from blood, don't read the next bit.] Then a couple blood vessels needed to be cauterized because they kept squirting blood. I know that seems really gross, well, it kind of is, but it was kind of cool to see it stream like it did. I've always heard about it happening too but had yet to actually see it happen. Shelley, my dad's nurse, has a lot of fun stories about that kind of stuff happening and it hitting my dad and getting his doctor's jacket dirty, or a cyst exploding etc. (They wear goggle-ish type glasses for protection.) Gross? Probably. But it's still pretty cool.
2. I took my first pregnancy test. And by taking a pregnancy test, I mean inserting the pee stick in the pee that's in the pee cup. (It was negative. Why did I have to do that? Well, you can't start Accutane if you're pregnant so we were making sure she wasn't. There can be serious side affects to the baby if you are.) And that grossed me out way way more than the squirting blood. I can't handle smells. I hate smelly things (unless it's delicious cookies or something).
3. Pee stick=gross. Squirting blood=awesome.

Hope your holidays are wonderful!

Oh and PS. Remember when I blogged about THIS? Well, I got it. I can't wait to start posting real pictures.