Heidi Hawks

 Heidi [redacted] Hawks (she always hated her middle name), 49, passed away peacefully and quietly July 19, 2021, in Boise, Idaho, due to a sucker punch from Stage IV ovarian cancer; surrounded by loved ones in the comfort of her own bed, she left as she lived: on her own terms and with family by her side.

On September 21, 1971, in Weiser, Idaho, a bright light was born into the world to the family of Ellis Lee and Edna Ellen Hawks, née Potts. Heidi was the fourth of eight children and from a young age was a peacemaker and caregiver; she would help everyone with anything.

In 1982, her father took employment at the DeLamar Mine in Owyhee County, and the family moved to Jordan Valley, Oregon. She attended Jordan Valley public schools, graduating from Jordan Valley High in 1990.

Classroom learning was often a challenge for Heidi, which makes her all the more awesome because she overcame those challenges over and over again to earn her bachelor’s degree in childhood development from Boise State University.

For nearly 30 years Heidi taught and worked with infants in the Tadpole classroom at the YMCA Children’s Village in Boise, where she was affectionately known as “Miss Heidi”. It is where her heart truly was. She loved, adored, and cherished every single one of the hundreds of children that came through her classroom. Working there never made her financially wealthy, but the blessings of caring for and teaching those little ones filled her bucket every day. She rarely took a vacation, and when she did, it was pretty much because management told her she had to. Her education, her lifelong learning, her everything went into giving the infants entrusted to her care the best possible start to their lives.

As supported by the dozens of comments we’ve heard since her passing, she also was a mentor and friend to many new and veteran parents, struggling with the challenges of raising an infant. She was a steady, calm, cheerful help to so many people who say she made them better parents, helping her pupils even beyond the walls of her classroom.

Heidi also managed to share so much time, talent, creativity and love with her niblings (nieces and nephews). She hosted the annual “Un-Superbowl Party” where family squeezed into her teeny apartment, ate finger foods she made, and watched Harry Potter movies because she hated football. She also hosted the annual “Christmas Kids Sleepover” where her niblings all stayed an evening and overnight during the Christmas season where they ate loads of sugar and salt, washed it all down with buckets of Chex mix then shared with family and neighbors, helped her decorate her Christmas tree, set up her Nativity collection, and made Christmas crafts while providing the opportunity for her siblings and their spouses to finish their Christmas shopping and gift wrapping.

Heidi was also a devotee of scifi and fantasy genre TV shows and films, owning an impressive collection of them on DVD. She shared this love with her siblings and niblings across many craft projects, Halloweens and costumed parties around the community. She also had the courage to take up belly dancing and bare her belly to the world.

Heidi is survived by two who call her “Daughter”, 6 who call her “Sister”, 5 who call her “Sister-in-Law”, 22 who call her “Aunt”, 4 who call her “Great Aunt”, and hundreds who call her “Miss Heidi”.

Heidi lived a full life of unconditional and selfless giving. She was an unfaltering rock and a light to so many. She is and will be sorely missed by us all.

Services will be held on Monday, July 26 at 11:00am at the Curtis Road Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 701 S Curtis Road, Boise, Idaho. To honor Heidi’s personal commitment to halt the spread of COVID-19, all attendees are asked to wear a mask. If you prefer not attending in person, we invite you to participate in the broadcast here: http://tiny.cc/heidihawks. Interment to follow at Morris Hill Cemetery.

Gertie the Cat

I'm not sure how the kids convinced me we needed a cat. I think my defenses are low right now, and as long as no one is doing drugs and making bad decisions that will affect the rest of their lives, I tend to say yes. Hence a cat. And Sam's blue hair, Ethan's ear piercings, Grace's shaved head, and Libby's plan for a nose ring. But that is not this story. This story is that I said yes to a cat. 

The girls started scouring the humane society listings and found a very sweet cat that only had three legs. Michael is very allergic to cats, but only some cats. We decided to go meet the tripod cat. He was so very, very sweet but also seemed to spike an allergy reaction. The cat next to the one we were looking at was also very sweet. She was also (so they said) part Siamese which tend to be less allergy inducing. She was also very sweet. She was also thirteen years old, overweight, and missing half her teeth. And yet she came home with us. 

Meet Gertie. She is a grumpy old lady who spends most of her day hiding in a little cupboard or under the girls' bedding. It feels like a wild animal sighting when she comes out of her hiding spots. She is sweet and loving, but also very shy.

She loves to snuggle with the girls, but only on their beds, which she has claimed as her territory.

Sam took a nap with her. He finds it grossly unfair that I won't let the cat sleep in his bed. I suggest that Sam may enjoy not dying from allergies more. He does not fully believe me. His allergies have decreased significantly since that first day, but still no sleeping with the cat. Michael also seems to be okay with her allergy-wise, but it might be because she is 3/4 ghost.

A rare double animal sighting. Gertie will only venture out to the couch when the house is very quiet, which isn't often. Here is our old dog and our old cat, a matching pair.

Birthdays

I was too overwhelmed to gift shop this year, but Michael happily did the shopping for both his and Grace's birthday. Grace got a pair of Vans and Michael got a magnet fishing kit. They were both very, very pleased.

This year Grace wanted to decorate her own cake. In the interest of time and sanity, I baked and frosted it and then she was given permission to do whatever else she wanted to to the cake. She was well pleased with the final result. 

Michael once again requested an ice cream cake and I was able to make that dream come true. 

Between Mother's Day, birthdays, and trying to help Heidi gain weight, my clothes are going to stop fitting. But worse things have happened.

Mother's Day

I lived within thirty minutes of Leslie Gulch for most of my adolescence. Yet I had never gone.

For Mother's Day this year I requested a road trip. We got a late start out of Boise, but after an hour on the highway and an hour on a washboard gravel road, we found a treasure. The Owyhees are absolutely gorgeous. 

Even the children who were angsty in the van, started to unwind once we were hiking. The views were so gorgeous and so alien they forgot to be cranky.

After an hour of hiking we had a quick picnic dinner and headed home. Michael was getting tired of the gravel road and was going at a quick clip. That necessitated pulling over so Sam could be sick along the side of the road, among the curious cows. After that Michael slowed down a little and we managed to make it home without further incident. 

On the way home Ethan and Libby were cracking themselves up with inappropriate jokes and innuendos. I challenged them to see how long they could go without being vulgar. They lasted for exactly thirty seconds. So we tried again. The second time they lasted six minutes. Life with teenagers. Happy Mother's Day! 

19 Years

For our anniversary this year, Michael and I decided to leave the kids at home overnight, for the first time. Spoiler, they were fine. House didn't burn down, no emergency room visits, people were fed, and the house was mostly clean when we came back. 

While the children were behaving mostly competently, Michael and I enjoyed renting a cabin at Bruneau Dunes State Park. We just kicked back and relaxed.

The cabin was charming and we enjoyed having a little space to ourselves. We planned on attending the star show at the observatory but I just didn't have the energy to be around other people, so we stayed in. Later we noticed the clouds had rolled in as well, so we hadn't even missed anything.

The next morning we enjoyed the view, packed up the van, and decided to go on a hike. Michael wanted to go on the two mile loop. I wanted to go on the six mile loop, over the top of the big dune. As it was already getting warm, we decided to do the shorter loop. 

It was probably a wise decision. Except, we missed the marker where we were supposed to turn. The trail is very, very poorly marked once you reach the sandy areas. We wandered around, heading in what we hoped was the generally correct direction until we found ourselves at the base of the large dune, in full sun. We got my desired hike after all, but Michael was floundering. He can usually out-hike me any day of the week, but he does not deal well with heat, and there was absolutely no shade. I was having visions of having to hike out and find a ranger to bring a four wheeler back for him. Once we made it over the big dune, we found a massive sage brush to sit under. Cool blessed shade. We had also brought a lot of water, which proved to be very necessary. Once we got Michael cooled and hydrated, he felt a lot better, and was able to continue. Which was good because we had another mile or two to go.  

We did finally make it back to the van, three hours after we started. Thankfully we were all packed up already. We refilled our water bottles, used the bathrooms, and headed towards home. We stopped at a little Mexican restaurant drive through in Mountain Home and pulled into a park with lots of shade to eat. Best meal I've eaten in a long time. Hunger will do that every time.