I Choose To Be HAPPY!

A couple of days ago a friend, Valorie, sent me a text with pictures of my daughter Tanya from January 1989. The minute I saw them I began to cry.  Tanya was senior in high school.  Valorie had asked Tanya to sing at her wedding and the beautiful dress was specially made for that purpose.   We all lived in the Corbin/London, KY area.  Tanya wanted to attend Brigham Young University (in Provo, Utah) where she was born.  Valorie was getting married in the Salt Lake, Utah temple (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  It was a perfect set of circumstances:  Tanya went to BYU and auditioned for a voice scholarship which she got; Valorie and Dusty went to the Temple and got married; and after it all - Tanya sang at Valorie's reception.  And Valorie's parents brought Tanya home with them!

- Janice Rae (me) with Tanya Rae at 6 weeks - Tanya Rae at 17 - Amber Rae at 22 - Madelyn Rae at 6 weeks -



 



Why am choosing to share this story right now?  The picture brought some closure to what has been a very emotional period of time for me.  Tanya was born August 9, 1971 in Provo, Utah.  She died on September 16, 2008 in Lexington, Kentucky.  Her daughter, Amber, was married in 2013 and gave birth to Madelyn on December 3, 2013.  Madelyn is Tanya's granddaughter . . . . and she was not here to celebrate with us.  While waiting for Amber to give birth to Madelyn I felt the intense loss that I had felt at the moment of Tanya's death.  It was almost a physical response that I can't even describe.  But as I looked at Amber holding her new baby, I was reminded that God is in charge!  Another leap of faith required..

Today a friend mentioned a neighbor who I realized had been a friend of Tanya's prior to her death.  I cried again - but the tears felt happy as I remembered Natalie, Kathy, Lisa and so many other remarkable women who helped her, loved her, took her to Louisville to the temple, took her out to eat and helped her do the things she couldn't do for herself: walk, eat, and so much more!  They gave her the opportunity to Choose To Be HAPPY!  And I look at Madelyn's smile, so much like her mother's, grandmother's and great grandmother's (that's me), I realize we have all given Madelyn Rae the gift of knowing that she, too, can Choose To Be HAPPY!