Well, she finally did it. Jane is a missionary!! After a year of coaching her through her feelings, fasting for answered prayers on her behalf, and crying through her heartache of leaving Parker, she finally turned in the papers and left!! I am so happy!! She is happy too! Her letters are very upbeat. She was a sad, sorry mess before she left and is now a stellar little missionary. I love getting her letters. They make my whole day!
I was the only Cannon at the farewell as the entire other Cannon clan was vacationing in the Outerbanks. It actually turned out to be a really fun trip just hanging with my family, sleeping in my old room, and although I missed my little fam, it would have been pretty tricky finding babysitters for them while we were in the temple. We had some late nights at the Children's Hour (we could stay there all night...1 a.m. was our curfew:-), and lots of fun chats with Jane in her room. It was the first time I've been with my family without my own little family since Sadie was born. My Dad mentioned he was sad that he couldn't see the kiddos but happy to see me in a "stress free" environment for a change.
Jane's talk was amazing!! She was totally composed and spoke from her heart. I was able to play the musical number with two of her friends from the music department at the U. It was so pretty playing with the cello and violin. Afterwards we went over the the Etherington hood for some refreshments with family and friends. Snagged some photos too.
Here we are, all grown up!
That night I took a red eye to NC to meet up with the Cannons at the beach. I was thrilled to find that 28 missionaries were on my flight. One had just gotten off the phone with her family and was crying so I was able to give her a little snuggle. I LOVE SISTER MISSIONARIES!! Needless to say, I wasn't worried about the plane crashing that night. Took an Ambien (thanks Mom) and checked out.
Fast forward a week. We came back from the beach and stayed with the Cannons until Tuesday night when Jane was set apart. Connie and Jim watched the kids and we had an amazing spiritual family experience. President Oscar McConkie came over with Jane's bishop Craig Galli to set her apart as a missionary. Parker decided that he was going to say goodbye to Jane before this took place. When I arrived at my parents house they were laying on a blanket in the backyard just crying. It just about killed me to see them so sad because it TOTALLY reminded me of when I had to say goodbye to my Chase. Finally they got up and Jane started walking Parker to his car. Dad snagged one of my favorites pics of Chase and me at the top of the stairs when I left for the MTC and I was determined to get a sappy picture of Jane and Parker, even though my mom vehemently opposed me going anywhere near them. So I spied on them instead.
I was the creepy lady in the window taking pictures of them but I know they will treasure the memory of knowing what they sacrificed so Jane could go on a mission. Geez!! They look so sad!!
When Parker left, Jane immediately ran up to her room and just bawled her eyes out. I went up and told her everything would be ok and that the worst part was over. Saying goodbye (especially to the love of your life) is the hardest part of leaving on a mission, and she was done!! She pulled herself together and walked down to meet the president and bishop waiting downstairs. When they asked how she was feeling she cried and they understood. It's so hard saying goodbye!!
Jane is a rockstar! She whipped herself into shape and we ended up having an amazing meeting! President McConkie asked each of us to give Jane some advice. The coolest part about this was that every single person in the room (besides my mom) had been on a mission. That's four siblings, their spouses, and Dad. Brooke wasn't there but we all thought it was pretty cool that even if she had, we were all able to relate some sort of wisdom to our younger sister from our own missionary experience. The spirit was amazingly strong and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I told Jane to be someone else's angel. I remember countless individuals who showed up during my mission to brighten my day. She could be sad, but she could make others happy and this would make her happy too. Chase cried because he mentioned how watching her say goodbye to Parker pulled on his heartstrings as he remembered having to see me go 10 years ago. He hardly ever cries so it was pretty tender. He told her to be herself and use her talents to strengthen others and bring others to the gospel. Everyone had such amazing advice President McConkie said through tears that he wished we had filmed what everyone said. He wished the world could see on Mormon.org what we were able to experience. It was such a beautiful meeting! We all love our Jane so much!!
I love my family sooooo much!!!
The next day I ran over early in the morning to grab a few things before I left to Idaho with my girlfriends. I had already said my final goodbye the night before but I had to run up to her room for one more snuggle. When I got in the car with the girls I was a little weepy but totally lost it when I saw what Parker put on Instagram a moment later. She's growing her wings!!
God speed my little "grown up" Jane!
No comments:
Post a Comment