Liz – My spouse – a thought from last year – A tribute to a wonderful lady I get to call – wife!
A tribute I wrote last year - about this time!
I wanted to share something about my spouse/wife that is too often forgotten – Liz Livingston
What happens after an injury holding a child and falling down stairs? Then years of secondary fertility, years of researching by Liz Livingston led us to a successful IVF outcome, and then a travel trip to Bremen Germany (Back surgery) – She has often applied her hard earned journalism degree from under the tutelage of one Penny Byrne and Mr. Sweeney while at Utah State University:
Blog post from Shane about 11/29/2021 (3 years ago today)
So, whether it’s Autism/PDA/Neurodivergence, back surgeries, understanding fertility and women’s reproductive processes or a myriad of many other topics (often not for herself – but for others), a great, and often overlook quality of my spouse is her ability to study, research, objectively review and ultimately she employs her apt ability to apply properly take action. It’s an awesome compliment to our family. She absorbs a lot of energy and shortfalls of many others in her generally helping nature.
Early in our dating relationship and while I was reconciling all of the reasons why it should not work (but why didn’t I trust the overthinker) – see a titktok post from me on that here —
You see, I walked into the Junction one day – our campus eatery near the residence hall towers where we first met in person. I was coming in late from or to something and she asked me to come find her. Well as was normal, i did find her and I observed, she was sitting with the folks oft-forgotten by others. It’s not that they weren’t people of value – nay, it was a group of folks that others didn’t often seek, because these intelligent and often overlooked neuro divergent band of misfits weren’t POPULAR. She was oten silently seeking those that needed support, and she helped them – as a person of worth (whoever it was she was interacting with) and more – often while she was battling with her own doubts and self-inflicted mental health deficiencies. I truly admired, and still do, her simple innate ability to seek out those of high value but who are too often not perceived as such in the eyes of ‘societal norms’.
So, as I have often learned, if Liz is sharing info on a topic, it is often well researched, and while the sourcing may not be at her fingertips in-the-moment, it came from authentic and varied and valid sourcing. Her worldview is not static, it is always improving and being iteratively shaped from the things she observes, the information she has synthesized and the instruction that experience and experiment has brought her or the multiple journals of research she has rabbit-holed through overthinking every possible reason, prompt, signal, observation, lesson learned and outcomes of proven and failed hypotheses. She is a solid human, tries her best as a spouse, a mother and a friend – never pretending to be perfect and always willing to support and listen and “sit in the mud” with others – OFTEN and I do not say this lightly — if you read this far — OFTEN overlooked as others benefit from her efforts. It hurts me to see her hurt. Ya, it needs to be said, she’s a solid human, and if we do eject and end up out of country – others opinions unfortunately do not count in us making the best decisions for our children first, and family (us) second, then all other factors – mind you we do listen and do process and account for that information shared – unsolicited or with consent.
When I left for Yale back in 2008 – we didn’t know why, but we jumped, and even tho it seemed ridiculous, we have landed in some pretty amazing circumstances – often the actions of our own consequences. So, it’s not space we are unfamiliar with – navigating the unknown since those early days back at USU – in the towers – and now my late best Friend serves as a Spirit guide as he once did in the flesh – Miss ya Big Steve Jacob.
To know Liz, is to know someone admirable, kind and unassuming – her toxic trait is loving me and our circus of chaos. But we wouldn’t trade her – not even for Anna Kendrick or Kate Beckinsale! 😛. Love ya Babe – errr, ummm, Liz! – shanel
