How the Next Chapter Starts

It was a sunny fall day the first week of October 2018.  Tessa and I were on a drive and coming home from Home Depot where we had just gotten some pink paint samples for her bedroom.  We were headed home coming down Fleming when we saw our tall, blonde friend Lisa Jones walking down the street.  She was knocking doors for work, I'm sure, so I rolled down the window to say hello.  We visited there for a minute and then when a car was coming up behind me, I pulled the car over and we continued to talk.  I think we talked for 30-40 minutes that day.

During the conversation, I remember talking about a variety of things.  I have since thought back to how the conversation went from one thing to the next - trying to remember all the details.  I know we shared podcasts and conference talks to listen to as well as personal family things that were hard and going on in her life at the time.  We work in primary together, so I'm sure that was in there somewhere.

While not dealing with life circumstances nearly as trying or serious, the conversation turned to what we were working on.  I told Lisa about redecorating Tessa's room for her 4th birthday in a month.  I always wanted to do a little girl room, and even though I was into it and excited about it, for some reason on this day it just seemed silly.  Probably because of what Lisa was dealing with and the overwhelm I was feeling about my to-do list - sometimes we make insignificant things like that seem really important.  It was at this point, when we were talking about pink bedrooms and things that really don't matter that we talked about gratitude.  I wondered aloud "What do I not have?"  Nothing.  We have everything we need and then some.  We talked about gratitude and then my thoughts turned to my time when I lived in China.  As a student teacher, I remember coming home from that five-month experience with so much gratitude.  I explained a little of these feelings that I had and then I said to her, "We should go back there...."  My voice trailed off and she said, "You should!"  We brainstormed for just a minute about how neat that would be to take our family there.  I told her that I had a BYU contact I should get in contact with - just to see.  We said goodbye and I left feeling uplifted and with a list of good things I wanted to read and listen to.

On the drive home my mind was reeling.  I walked right in and looked up the number for Al Merkeley.  He worked in the Dean's office when I was a secretary there in the McKay building as well as when I was recruited to Xi'an for my student teaching.  When I called and said my name, he knew exactly who I was.  He said, "I'm so glad you called now...I'm retiring and will be gone in six weeks."  I told Al I had a crazy idea and that I was calling him without my husband even knowing.  "What would it take to get our family to China?"  He told me about two schools that BYU is affiliated with and said that he would get my information to Peter Chan, who was also around almost 20 years ago when I was there.  I think I told Brian later that night what I had done - but it was a far-fetched idea in his mind, so he didn't think too much of it.

After a few days I got an email from Peter with Al's forwarded message.  His note to me simply read, "Do you want to pursue this?"  I asked Brian if he would be willing to put together a resume.  No problem.  Letters of recommendation felt like another level of involvement.  This took more convincing, but he did it.  I gathered my letters in a few days.  Brian took a few weeks.  I think he was nervous to even entertain the idea and telling a colleague about it to write a letter was a scary thought.  It was November by the time I had forwarded both of our resumes and letters of rec to Peter to then forward on to the principals.  Weeks went by before I heard anything.

During these weeks of wondering, I spent many times on the phone with my friend and old China roommate, Petra Laster.  We had become like sisters when we lived together and while we hadn't talked regularly or often over the years, I felt like I wanted to hash this out with her.  Brian wasn't super interested in talking about it, but my dreaming and crazy thoughts were entertained and encouraged by her.  She kindly and gently and excitedly went through scenarios with me.  We discussed money and how much we needed to make it happen.  All of the details that kept me up at night - she could talk it though with me.  During our first conversation when I suggested the adventure, she told me, "This is happening."  And when a question mark first jumped into my head, I still knew that she was right.  And that I wanted it to happen for us.