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Who is Christine Thackeray?
The Short Answer
Christine currently resides in Newberg, Oregon and is the mother of seven amazing children. The oldest two boys are on missions. She graduated from BYU with a B.A. in English in 1986, thanks to her devoted husband (hah, long story and this is the short answer.)
Daughter of author Jaroldeen Edwards, Christine has always loved writing, but more than writing itself she loves the sharing of ideas. As a young mother she was a frequent contributor to the local newspaper. Later she designed a number of brochures for the town of Fairview, used to welcome new residents. She has participated in a number of technical writing projects including a nation real estate study and several university studies. She has also written numerous Roadshows, Christmas Programs and Young Women's events.
After her youngest went to kindergarten, Christine decided to try writing her first novel. Surprisingly, it was accepted by CFI for publication in the spring of 2008 which has opened an exciting new chapter in her life.
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Who is Christine Thackeray?
The Long Answer
Years ago when I was struggling at BYU, feeling like an old unmatched shoe being shoved into a too small pigeon-hole, my father sat across from me in the car in the temple parking lot and looked in my eyes. I was not doing well in school and was mad that he was forcing me to stay when I felt like I had so much to offer the world and was being shackled in this plastic valley where the girls all looked like barbie dolls. (It's funny but even now I can recall my extreme feelings, not based on reality but excuses for my own lack of confidence and drive.)
I remember being determined not to crack. My father had no clue what I was feeling; he didn't even know me anymore, I thought. Setting my jaw, I sat across from him and knew there was nothing he could say that would persuade me to last the semester or ever come back to this place. Nothing. We sat in the emotion charged silence for a long while staring each other down when suddenly my father's glare softened. He pulled back and looked down, then gently said, "Christine, if you were to describe yourself to someone who had never met you before, what would you say?"
I looked at him and my mouth fell open. How did he think of something that brilliant? Instead of attacking, I had to pull back and think. I tried to start one sentence and then another but everything I tried to grab was fleeting- it didn't define me. The truth was I wasn't anything yet- I had some talents and gifts but even those were still in their infancy and how I chose to apply them hadn't matured. No, I was still becoming- I could still choose any path and had the world ahead of me. There were thousands of places I could go that might help me become who I wanted to be but I wasnt' that person at all- I was yet to be me. I suddenly realized that however miserable it felt to be surrounded by roommates who didn't get me in the least and professors that were intellectually stapled to lesson plans as animated and stimulating as cardboard, there were other opportunities and courses I had not pursued and sometimes somethings must be endured before we get to the good stuff- like eating your brussel sprouts so you can have dessert.
Now, many years later my father is gone and I'm asked again, who am I. There are some things I have become eternally. A mother of seven incredible living children and one sweet celestial son whose working hard on the other side of the veil and enjoying his grandpa. I'm a wife to the absolutely nicest guy on the planet, bar none. But every morning I'm also grateful that there are other things I'm still becoming.
As long as I'm breathing I have the opportunity to continue to become not just something else but something better- a better writer, a better friend, a better homemaker, a better YW's president, a better athlete, a better singer, a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, a better person and a better saint. I still hate the brussell sprouts of life- dishes, laundry, bills, complicated tax returns, sticking to any sort of diet- you know, any of dozens of silly obligations without any lasting intellectual or emotional benefit, but I do realize they are necessities and eke by pathetically in those areas. But I also am able to relish the beauty of watching a child unfold into a young man, worthy, valiant and true. I get to spend my quiet days playing with ideas and feelings, my own worlds and the words of geniuses. What a great gift this life is with so much to enjoy and experience. There is never enough time to do it all- but I'll try every day to do more and to do it better.
Yup, I've still got a lot of improving to do but how incredibly grateful I am for the atonement which allows us to learn and improve through our own winding road, fixing mistakes and learning at each corner and how thrilled I am that my pursuits to learn and grow and become what our Father intended is not confined to the few years I'm here but will be the fabric of eternity.
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