Show Personal tragedies are life s interruptions me?' and ‘Why did it have to happen?'" The next stage she said is an anger that can strike out in many directions When Zoanne Murdock whose story is retold in the book learned that three of her children had been killed in a car accident she “cursed the Lord" said Whyte Authors share how some have coped By JANELLE BIDDINGER Standard-Examine- r Drawing her hospital robe tightly around her Dorothy Casper settled into a chair to wait her turn for radiation therapy Cancer surgery several weeks earlier had done little to slow the energetic Idaho wife and mother but the ongoing radiation treatments left her frail and dispirited Casper exchanged quiet conversation with a small d woman seated next to her in the Salt Lake City hospital waiting room until the woman’s husband d returned and solemn from his weekly exam The results he said showed his cancer was growing d The woman leaned close placed her hand on his knee and said “Now honey this isn’t the end It’s only one of life's interruptions” Alone miles from her family preparing to celebrate this 1987 Christmas season Casper felt a dark spirit leave her “I realized yes that’s right I’ve only been interrupted” she said in an interview “That’s how I got through it “I wish I could help people understand Yes it's devastating But at the same time we cannot live in fear” When she returned home only to combat painful pneumonitis — radiation-induce- d inflammation of the lungs — she vowed “that I would never lose those feelings that somehow I would speak from the page It was like a commitment I made to exist to continue living” Pin-gr- Two years later as the pain over her children’s deaths was subsiding her husband Denis Murdock died in a plane crash “The second time" said Whyte “she was furious at her husband for leaving her in such a mess” After anger comes the guilt — often guilt for those feelings of anger said Whyte “You place blame trying to find answers in your mind" She said those who experienced death often felt a “spiritual closeness to the Lord" But within a few months that comfort and peace abruptly leaves “They feel absolutely alone" — a state that is necessary for the next recovery step which Whyte describes as the “learning ee white-haire- head-bowe- white-haire- Casper 60 asked Marilyn Whyte also a from the Blackfoot area to book and the result “Life’s Interruptions: A Treasury of Hope and Encouragement” was recently published by the Orem-base- d LDS publisher Cedar Fort or Inc Casper and Whyte will speak in an fireside at 7 pm Sunday at the Weber North Stake Center 4100 W 900 South Whyte is no stranger to mortal interHer story like Casper’s is ruptions Ogden ward names Robertson as bishop stage" Marilyn Whyte (left) and Dorothy Casper e among the book’s 10 accounts of Idaho and Utah people who have clung tightly to life despite interruptions of death illness war and financial calamity “We didn’t want sob stories or tragedies” said Whyte 38 “We were looking for people who have successfully overcome interruption or come to accept it” real-lif- Several months into a troubled third pregnancy Whyte relates she miscarried and during the tense ride to the hospital hemorrhaged By the time her husband’s skidded up to the hospital’s emergency room Whyte was clinically dead with little more than a pint of blood left in her colsnow-hinder- ed lapsed veins she said life Whyte says she owes her once-loto one feisty nurse who refused to admit defeat even pumping Whyte’s veins full st of an unmatched blood type With the rush of new blood and life came a new philosophy “Up until then I thought that what you accomplished and learned were important But I realized that when you leave you don’t take a list of Ogden ward sustains Salisbury as bishop the book ed Brownie points You take what's in your heart and soul" A shift in their perception of life was common to the individuals — and their families — whose tales are recounted in “Life's Interruptions” the two women said Among the stories are those of Ruth Gneiting paralyzed in a truck crash during her 1982 campaign for an Idaho Legislature seat Dayle and Carol Holm who wrestled their lives back to normalcy after the financial upheaval of a failed business and Brigham Young University student and amateur aviator Scott Stocking who — through his journal entries — tells how he resolved his own personal battle with life (Ironically the young pilot was killed in a Dec 14 1987 crash on Interstate 15 near Salt Lake City) A similar emotional process of recovery ran through each of the narratives said Whyte regardless of the type of interruption She said the first emotion to hit is shock and denial Then “comes the ‘Why “If you were not left alone in what Zoanne calls ‘your own private Gethsem-ane- ’ you would never begin to work yourself out of it" she said “In that deep sorrow stage is when you become teachable you start asking questions like ‘What shall I do with my life?’ ‘How can go on?' “And after you have given all you can emotionally after all the tears when you are completely drained of any thing else you can give to that tragedy then you can accept it and start to go on" She believes readers who are hurlin from their own life interruptions wi “start to understand ‘Well I'm OK must be in this stage' We think that’s go ing to be the success of the book" Casper said she learned from their in 1 terviews with the book's subjects that those who downplay their hurt with an attitude may be doing themselves a disservice “It doesn't make any difference what you have experienced pain is pain And at the time you're experiencing it your pain is just as severe as the other person's When you recognize that you're not so apt to go up to someone and say “I know this is hard on you but what if problems?"" you had irrrmrrrTrq tS&enirernre FREE MISSIONARY HEADQUARTERS with purchase of each 2 Pant Suit with this Shirt and Tie Your Complete Suits The Right The Right Shim Ties and Socks The Right Shoes PJ’s and Robes the Right Rain Coat Top Coats The Right Belts 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