Pioneers

Today is a unique holiday in Utah: Pioneer Day. A lot of us round these parts 😉 can trace our heritage back to the early Mormon pioneers who were forced out of the eastern US back in the 1840s due to religious persecution. They settled out in the deserts of Utah on land nobody else wanted & made do, transforming that land into a prosperous area. This holiday is meant to celebrate their faith, resilience, & ingenuity. A common phrase in my church is “We are all pioneers” and while I have casually agreed with that statement in the past—I mean, no one has lived my exact life before in this time period before, so sure—today I felt it in my bones. Today I realized that, to my knowledge, no one in either my family or Dan’s, in recent or distant known history, has ever had a family member with Down syndrome. No one in our neighborhood has a child with DS. We are one family of very few DS families in our school boundaries. We are, quite literally, pioneers. I think of my Mormon ancestors who we’ve held on a pedestal my entire life: their incomparable bravery, their sacrifices, their unwavering faith. Their crucial journals that reveal their inspiring stories. I look at my own life and think, my goodness—whose idea was it to give clumsy me such a role & responsibility?! 😂 I know I am not a perfect pioneer, but I do relate in some ways at least to the struggle of pioneering. Lydie has carried most of the physical battles, but I think Dan, the boys & I have all taken turns pulling the emotional handcart. Not without complaining mind you (real talk), but I have a rather famous pioneer ancestor who kept it real in her journal so maybe that’s allowed. She makes me feel human & inspires me—not shying away from acknowledging the hard parts, but still having faith enough to see them through. I thought of her example today when we sang this anthem honoring pioneer grit:

“Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so, all is right
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins, fresh courage take
Our God will never us forsake
And soon we'll have this tale to tell
All is well! All is well!”