When Mitchell James Laing was born it was a winter’s day in Australia, and a summer’s day in America. When we got the call that he had been born it was July 5, but his birthday was July 6. I'll let you figure that out.
When Mitchell was 10 months old, I went to Australia to visit my sister and her family. Jason was 7, Daniel was 3 and Mitchell was the baby. It was so wonderful to get to know my nephews and enjoy their funny personalities. Mitchell was such an adorable, happy, chubby baby. He was always ready to play and tried to keep up with the big boys. Mitchell was born with some issues with his foot that required some surgeries as a baby and toddler. Although he had a cast on his little leg, it didn’t slow him down a bit. At 5 months old, he was crawling and crawled right out of his cast. At 2 years old and in a full leg cast, he was going up and down stairs and even climbed the back fence so he could play with his friend. Even at this young age, Mitchell was showing his determination to overcome challenges and obstacles. He was also showing that he had an amazing natural athletic ability.
As a toddler, the family made the long flight overseas and moved to America. Mitchell continued to be a happy, sweet boy. As children, all the boys were involved in sports, specifically Little League baseball. That natural coordination and ability that allowed him to climb fences with a full leg cast at 2 years old was now being developed into a great ball player. Mitchell’s coach made him catcher because he saw a quality in him that we all knew he had from a baby. Mitchell had NO Fear. He could plant himself down right in front of that ball and would not waiver. He was also a great hitter and one night a parent in the stands yelled out, “I’ll give you $20 to hit it over the fence!” Well, needless to say, Mitchell went home with $20 dollars in his pocket that night and the crowd went wild. His team each signed the game ball and gave it to him.
Before I got married, I lived with my sister’s family again and had another chance to enjoy the boys. I remember playing Super Mario on their Nintendo with them and being interested in the things they were interested in. They liked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so I bought them a pet turtle. It’s probably still in that backyard in Mira Loma somewhere. The boys loved Halloween and dressing up in costumes and trick or treating. There were always great family birthday parties for the kids with lots of fun with piñatas and good food. I remember telling my sister very sincerely that I couldn’t imagine loving my own future children more than I loved those boys.
When I had my first child, it had been a few years since the last baby in the immediate family and that was Mitchell. He was 10 years old when she was born. Now most 10 year old boys think they’re pretty tough or at least want to be, and Mitchell I’m sure was no exception with his love of sports, action figures and building Legos. When my daughter was born, my mom, Susan and Mitchell came to the hospital as our first visitors and brought Larkin her first baby doll and that strong, athletic 10 year old boy proudly carried that doll all the way through the hospital and gave it to his baby cousin. Even though he was all boy, there were two more qualities Mitchell had: his love for his family and his tender heart. Mitchell loved his family and family traditions. He was also fiercely loyal and protective of his family.
Mitchell had many other talents in addition to sports. Mitchell had an artistic soul. He loved to draw and showed talent at a young age. Mitchell taught himself to play the guitar when he was older which came as no surprise to me. Once while he was visiting us when he was about 14 years old, we had an Irish whistle that my husband brought home from Ireland for the kids. I walked through the living room and heard this beautiful celtic music being played. It was a beautiful melody. I looked around and it was Mitchell on the couch with the irish whistle he had never played before making beautiful music. I remember saying, “How do you DO that??” And he just laughed and shrugged.
Mitchell loved to cook. When he was 13 years old he lived with us for awhile and I asked him what he liked to watch on t.v. He said, “I really like cooking shows.” And he did. He cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for his girlfriend Alexis and her family with a few calls to his Mom’s cooking hotline for support. I’m sure it was delicious.
Mitchell was an amazing young man with amazing talents and gifts: Determination, natural grace and athletic ability, courage, fun loving, strong love for family, loyal, artistic, and friendly. He was also really funny and often had us laughing at his jokes and impressions, one in particular was George Bush when he was about 7 years old. Mitchell had an easy going personality and was easy to get along with. When he lived with us for about 6 months, he went to school and did really well and attended church with us and had a great time at youth activites.
I am grateful for the comfort I have been given to know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves us and loves Mitchell more than we ever could and more than we can imagine. I am grateful for a savior that knows our every sorrow and pain and has made it possible that even as there is death, there is hope. 1st Corinthians 15:22 says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
This earthly life is such a small moment in time compared to eternity. I love the quote, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience." Our bodies are a gift to us and through them we can enjoy life and fulfill our missions on earth, but they are only temporary. Our spirits are eternal. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people and there is a lot in this life to be sad about. But I believe we can be comforted, there is hope and we can have faith that there is eternal life. It gives me peace to know that I will see my loved ones again and even while our sadness can be overwhelming, our joy at our reunion will be great.
The poet Wordsworth said:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home
When my Grandma Larkin passed away, I thought about what I learned from her, what strengths she had that had been passed down to me. I thought about her love of books and reading and how she enjoyed writing. These are all things I inherited from her. It’s my challenge to you that knew and loved Mitchell to think about something about him that inspired you and try to develop that trait in yourself.
I am grateful for the gift that Mitchell was to all he knew and pray we can all be comforted at this time.
When Mitchell was 10 months old, I went to Australia to visit my sister and her family. Jason was 7, Daniel was 3 and Mitchell was the baby. It was so wonderful to get to know my nephews and enjoy their funny personalities. Mitchell was such an adorable, happy, chubby baby. He was always ready to play and tried to keep up with the big boys. Mitchell was born with some issues with his foot that required some surgeries as a baby and toddler. Although he had a cast on his little leg, it didn’t slow him down a bit. At 5 months old, he was crawling and crawled right out of his cast. At 2 years old and in a full leg cast, he was going up and down stairs and even climbed the back fence so he could play with his friend. Even at this young age, Mitchell was showing his determination to overcome challenges and obstacles. He was also showing that he had an amazing natural athletic ability.
As a toddler, the family made the long flight overseas and moved to America. Mitchell continued to be a happy, sweet boy. As children, all the boys were involved in sports, specifically Little League baseball. That natural coordination and ability that allowed him to climb fences with a full leg cast at 2 years old was now being developed into a great ball player. Mitchell’s coach made him catcher because he saw a quality in him that we all knew he had from a baby. Mitchell had NO Fear. He could plant himself down right in front of that ball and would not waiver. He was also a great hitter and one night a parent in the stands yelled out, “I’ll give you $20 to hit it over the fence!” Well, needless to say, Mitchell went home with $20 dollars in his pocket that night and the crowd went wild. His team each signed the game ball and gave it to him.
Before I got married, I lived with my sister’s family again and had another chance to enjoy the boys. I remember playing Super Mario on their Nintendo with them and being interested in the things they were interested in. They liked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so I bought them a pet turtle. It’s probably still in that backyard in Mira Loma somewhere. The boys loved Halloween and dressing up in costumes and trick or treating. There were always great family birthday parties for the kids with lots of fun with piñatas and good food. I remember telling my sister very sincerely that I couldn’t imagine loving my own future children more than I loved those boys.
When I had my first child, it had been a few years since the last baby in the immediate family and that was Mitchell. He was 10 years old when she was born. Now most 10 year old boys think they’re pretty tough or at least want to be, and Mitchell I’m sure was no exception with his love of sports, action figures and building Legos. When my daughter was born, my mom, Susan and Mitchell came to the hospital as our first visitors and brought Larkin her first baby doll and that strong, athletic 10 year old boy proudly carried that doll all the way through the hospital and gave it to his baby cousin. Even though he was all boy, there were two more qualities Mitchell had: his love for his family and his tender heart. Mitchell loved his family and family traditions. He was also fiercely loyal and protective of his family.
Mitchell had many other talents in addition to sports. Mitchell had an artistic soul. He loved to draw and showed talent at a young age. Mitchell taught himself to play the guitar when he was older which came as no surprise to me. Once while he was visiting us when he was about 14 years old, we had an Irish whistle that my husband brought home from Ireland for the kids. I walked through the living room and heard this beautiful celtic music being played. It was a beautiful melody. I looked around and it was Mitchell on the couch with the irish whistle he had never played before making beautiful music. I remember saying, “How do you DO that??” And he just laughed and shrugged.
Mitchell loved to cook. When he was 13 years old he lived with us for awhile and I asked him what he liked to watch on t.v. He said, “I really like cooking shows.” And he did. He cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for his girlfriend Alexis and her family with a few calls to his Mom’s cooking hotline for support. I’m sure it was delicious.
Mitchell was an amazing young man with amazing talents and gifts: Determination, natural grace and athletic ability, courage, fun loving, strong love for family, loyal, artistic, and friendly. He was also really funny and often had us laughing at his jokes and impressions, one in particular was George Bush when he was about 7 years old. Mitchell had an easy going personality and was easy to get along with. When he lived with us for about 6 months, he went to school and did really well and attended church with us and had a great time at youth activites.
I am grateful for the comfort I have been given to know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves us and loves Mitchell more than we ever could and more than we can imagine. I am grateful for a savior that knows our every sorrow and pain and has made it possible that even as there is death, there is hope. 1st Corinthians 15:22 says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
This earthly life is such a small moment in time compared to eternity. I love the quote, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience." Our bodies are a gift to us and through them we can enjoy life and fulfill our missions on earth, but they are only temporary. Our spirits are eternal. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people and there is a lot in this life to be sad about. But I believe we can be comforted, there is hope and we can have faith that there is eternal life. It gives me peace to know that I will see my loved ones again and even while our sadness can be overwhelming, our joy at our reunion will be great.
The poet Wordsworth said:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home
When my Grandma Larkin passed away, I thought about what I learned from her, what strengths she had that had been passed down to me. I thought about her love of books and reading and how she enjoyed writing. These are all things I inherited from her. It’s my challenge to you that knew and loved Mitchell to think about something about him that inspired you and try to develop that trait in yourself.
I am grateful for the gift that Mitchell was to all he knew and pray we can all be comforted at this time.
1 comment:
That is a beautiful tribute to your nephew Shonda. I especially love the pictures of him with your little ones. Thank you for sharing this with us. I hope all of the family is blessed with peace and comfort.
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